The Lengthy and Difficult Process of Amending the Constitution
The lengthy and difficult process involved in amending the Constitution makes it a deliberately challenging task. In addition, although amendments should result in improvements to the initial document, their nature is heavily political. In essence, the Congress has only been successful 27 times in its efforts to address contentious issues in the Constitution. How an amendment can become a portion of the Constitution is outlined in Article V. Congress or the states may suggest calling a constitutional convention to amend the constitution with a two-thirds vote. This essay will detail how our organization plans to accomplish the goal of amending the Constitution in order to fix the Congress. Additionally, it will highlight insights that will be used to impose term limits on members of the Senate and House of Representatives.
Amending the Constitution versus Passing a Law
It is of the essence to change than pass a law because the Constitution is the supreme legislature of the land. As such, the amendment will change the U.S. Constitution and thus to the legislation of this country. For example in the Marbury v. Madison case, the court was able to grant the commissioners to Marbury also he was entitled because the law and the constitution were conflicting. Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 conflicted with Article III Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution (Black, 2012). The Supreme Court canceled Marbury’s claim, regarding it void. Moreover, all other laws in the federal, state and local level in the United States must be consistent with the Constitution. Therefore, the U.S. Supreme Court can invalidate any subordinate law by declaring it unconstitutional. For instance, in the case, U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, the state of Arkansas was prohibited from adopting Congressional qualifications. As a result, the limit amendment 73 that they had taken was ruled unconstitutional.
Elements to Consider before Drafting Language to Amend the Constitution
There are certain techniques of statutory constructions, and interpretations have been used so often that they have been formalized into canons. It is, however, essential to recognize that for each canon that supports your construction, there is often an opposite canon that can be used to defeat your interpretation. The three elements that one must consider before drafting the language to amend the U.S. Constitution include; first, if the language of the law is plain and unambiguous, it must be given effect. Therefore, it is critical to ensure that the given stature should have to mean even though it may appear straightforward and obvious. Second, a statute cannot go beyond its text; as such, the writer should ensure that the law affects its purpose without implementing it beyond its text. Thirdly, one should make sure that the words used are to be interpreted according to the proper grammatical effect of their arrangement (Taft, 2008). It is, therefore, important to ensure that the stature should adhere to the rules of grammar to achieve its intention.
Primary Paths to Pursue to Amend the U.S. Constitution
There are two primary ways that can be used to amend the U.S. Constitution as stipulated by the Constitution. The first path is the commonly used where the bill passes both houses of the legislature, by a two-thirds majority in each house. After that, the bill goes on to states; essentially, this is the route that has been taken by all current amendments. There is always a time limit set by the Congress due to some long outstanding amendments such as the 27th. The second method is, which is provided by the Constitution of the United States is for a constitutional convention to be called by two-thirds of the legislatures of the States. Here, that conference is expected to propose one or more amendments, which are then sent to the states for approval by three-fourths of the convention (Vile, 2002). However, it is of the essence to recognize that this path had never been taken. Regardless of the method applied, the amendment must be approved and ratified by three-fourths of states.
The Three Branches of the Government
The Three Branches of the Executive, Legislative Branch, and Judicial. The Executive is often comprised of the President, Vice President, the Cabinet, and other independent boards and agencies. Essentially, the executive leads the country and carries out the law as stipulated in the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the president can veto laws, which have already been passed by the Congress. If the amendment to impose term limits on the Congress is successful, the executive will be minimally affected as there is no direct dependency between the two systems (Black, 2012). However, the president will have to wait for approval of his appointments, or for new laws to be made during re-election of the Congress.
The legislative branch includes the Senate and House of Representatives, and several other agencies that provide support services to the Congress. The American vote for the Senators and Representatives through free, confidential ballots. A senator’s term is six years, while the representatives serve a two-year term. The primary role of the Congress is to enact a law, confirm or reject Presidential appointments, and can declare war. If the amendment by our organization is successful, then the two leaders will serve for a shorter period in the government (Taft, 2008). Moreover, there will be a limit on the number of times the Senator and the Representative can be re-elected, beyond which, a person cannot seek the same position.
The Judicial is comprised of the Supreme Court and other federal courts serving the country. The Supreme Court Justices are appointed by the President since this is the highest court in the United States. For other federal courts, the Constitution grants Congress the authority to establish these tribunals. The main responsibility of the Judicial is to evaluate and interpret the meaning of the various laws (Black, 2012). Additionally, this branch applies rules to individual cases presented in courts and decides of laws violate the Constitution. If the Congress term is limited, the judiciary will suffer from inadequate staff due to insufficient time to reject or approve the president’s appointment of the Justices. Also, there might be a lack of new laws to deal with new cases if the Congress is awaiting re-election.
Conclusion
Amending the United States Constitution requires two-thirds of both the Senate and the House of Representative. This is an intentionally complicated process that has seen only 27 amendments succeed with hundreds being unsuccessful. Our organization seeks to amend the Constitution following Article V, to fix the Congress by imposing term limits. Although it is not an easy task to make both houses agree to our recommendations, it is worth the trial. As such, the organization has set out plans to help us accomplish our goals by successfully amending a law. It is of the essence to recognize that although the impacts with differ in every branch of the government, there will be significant changes in the government. Through the set strategies, this organization is scheduled to undertake the process, following every procedure, as required by the Constitution of the United States.
References
Black, C. L. (2012). Amending the Constitution: A Letter to a Congressman. The Yale Law
Journal, 82(2), 189-215.
Taft, W. H. (2008). The Boundaries between the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial
Branches of the Government. The Yale Law Journal, 25(8), 599-616.
Vile, J. R. (2002). The Constitutional Amending Process in American Political Thought. Praeger
Publishers.
