Jump to content

List of proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Whether or not it was a reaction to Gore's loss is irrelevant.
Tag: blanking
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
This list contains proposed [[Amendments to the United States Constitution|amendments to the]] [[United States Constitution]]. [[Article Five of the United States Constitution]] allows for two methods of proposing amendments: through Congress or through a convention called for by the states.


[[United States House of Representatives|Representatives]] and [[United States Senate|Senators]] typically collectively propose up to 200 amendments during each term of [[United States Congress|Congress]];<ref name="C-SPAN's Capitol Questions">{{cite web|url=http://www.c-span.org/questions/weekly54.asp|title=C-SPAN's Capitol Questions|accessdate=2008-05-29|deadurl=yes}}</ref> most never get out of [[United States congressional committee|Congressional committees]]. Few proposed amendments pass the first constitutional hurdle: approval by two-thirds majorities in both Houses of Congress. For more information on amendments that have been approved by Congress, but not by the state legislatures, see the section of this page titled [[#Amendments approved by Congress and awaiting ratification|Amendments approved by Congress and awaiting ratification]]. The Constitution also allows state legislatures to call for "a Convention for proposing Amendments"; while many states have at different times called for such a convention, the requirement that two-thirds of states call for such a convention before one can be held has never been met.

Only 33 such proposals in [[History of the United States|U.S. history]] (including the 27 that were ratified) have received the two-thirds vote in Congress necessary to present them to the states. The [[History of the United States Constitution#Constitutional Convention|framers]] intended that it be difficult to change the Constitution, but not so difficult as to render it an inflexible instrument of government. Their prescription drew upon their experience with the [[Articles of Confederation]], which had been the United States' previous supreme law since 1781, and which required a unanimous vote of 13 states to amend. This unanimity proved impossible to obtain, and the framers therefore laid out a less stringent process for amending the Constitution in [[Article Five of the United States Constitution|Article V]].

[[Image:Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States.jpg|260px|right|thumb|The [[Philadelphia Convention]] resulted in the Constitution, and its [[Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution|amending formula]], which has remained unchanged]]

The passage of the [[Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution]] in 1992, 202 years after it had been approved by Congress, spurred interest in the subject from the general public. Under the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in ''[[Coleman v. Miller]]'', {{ussc|307|433|1939}}, any proposed amendment which has been submitted to the states for ratification and does not specify a ratification deadline may be ratified by the states at any time. In ''Coleman'', the Supreme Court further ruled that the ratification of a constitutional amendment is [[political question|political]] in nature—and so not a matter properly assigned to the judiciary.

==Amending process==
{{Main|Article Five of the United States Constitution}}
Amending the Constitution is a two-step process: '''Proposition''' and '''Ratification'''.

# '''Proposing an amendment''': Article Five allows for two methods of proposing an amendment: By Congress or by a [[constitutional convention (political meeting)|national convention]].
#* Congressional proposition: A two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress—assuming the presence of a [[quorum]]—may propose an amendment. All of the ratified and unratified amendments have been proposed by this method.
#* National convention: An amendment may also be [[convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution|proposed by a national convention]] requested (or "applied" for) by [[State legislature (United States)|legislatures]] of at least two-thirds of the states (currently 34).
# '''Ratification''': A proposed amendment must then be ratified. There are two possible methods of ratification, and only Congress may choose which method to use.
#* Ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states (38 states with 50 states currently in the Union). Such proposals sometimes have a ratification deadline.
#* Ratification by state conventions of three-fourths of the states. Only the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-first Amendment]] has used this method.

Article Five specifies [[entrenched clause]]s that cannot be amended by the usual process. The first two restrictions, regarding the [[slave trade]] and [[direct tax]]es, expired in 1808. The last one specifies that an amendment cannot deprive a state of equal representation in the Senate without that state's consent.

==Amendments approved by Congress that were not ratified==

===Equal Rights Amendment===
The [[Equal Rights Amendment]], approved by Congress March 22, 1972, would make government discrimination based on a citizen's sex illegal. The initial pace of [[State legislature (United States)|state legislative]] ratifications was rapid during 1972 and 1973. The rate of ratification then slowed considerably with only three ratifications during 1974, just one in 1975, none at all in 1976 and only one in 1977. The [[92nd United States Congress|92nd Congress]], in proposing the ERA, had set a seven-year time limit for its ratification and, by the end of that deadline on March 22, 1979, a total of 35 of the required 38 states had ratified it.

The deadline was extended to ten years (June 30, 1982), before expiring but no additional states ratified the amendment. It has been argued that the amendment can still be ratified if Congress re-extends the deadline, if three more states ratify the amendment (bringing the number of states up to the required thirty-eight) and if the archivist of the United States or the U.S. Congress accept the ratification as valid. This method of ratification is controversial and contrary to existing court precedent, but in recent years states have begun to take up the issue again (the Illinois House of Representatives voted to ratify and the Florida Senate voted 7–3 for the amendment in committee).

===District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment===
The [[District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment]], approved by Congress on August 22, 1978, would have given the residents of the District of Columbia full representation in both houses of the Congress in addition to full participation in the Electoral College. It expired unratified in 1985.

Requiring the approvals of lawmakers in at least 38 of the 50 states, the amendment was ratified by only 16 states prior to the August 22, 1985 deadline:

#[[New Jersey]] on September 11, 1978
#[[Michigan]] on December 13, 1978
#[[Ohio]] on December 21, 1978
#[[Minnesota]] on March 19, 1979
#[[Massachusetts]] on March 19, 1979
#[[Connecticut]] on April 11, 1979
#[[Wisconsin]] on November 1, 1979
#[[Maryland]] on March 19, 1980
#[[Hawaii]] on April 17, 1980
#[[Oregon]] on July 6, 1981
#[[Maine]] on February 16, 1983
#[[West Virginia]] on February 23, 1983
#[[Rhode Island]] on May 13, 1983
#[[Iowa]] on January 19, 1984
#[[Louisiana]] on June 24, 1984
#[[Delaware]] on June 28, 1984

==Amendments approved by Congress and awaiting ratification==
The following amendments passed a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress. They were therefore approved by Congress and moved to the next step of ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states (38 states with 50 states currently in the Union). The act of rejecting a proposed constitutional amendment by a state legislatures has no legal recognition, but such actions have political ramifications and are symbolic of the state's strong opposition to the amendment. All of the following proposed amendments are still technically active and have never expired or died and could be still ratified by state legislatures at any time.

===Congressional Apportionment Amendment===
[[Image:Bill of Rights Pg1of1 AC.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Bill of Rights]] on display. The Congressional Apportionment Amendment was a part of the shown original]]
The [[Congressional Apportionment Amendment]], approved by Congress in 1789 as part of the proposed [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]]. This is the only one of the original twelve amendments in the Bill of Rights never to have been ratified by the states. Its purpose is to further specify how the seats in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] should be apportioned.

The Congressional Apportionment Amendment has been one state short of the total needed for ratification on two occasions: from November 3, 1791, to June 1, 1792 (from the ratification by Vermont until the [[List of U.S. states by date of statehood|admission]] of Kentucky as the 15th state), and from June 24, 1792, to March 1, 1803 (from the ratification by Kentucky until the [[List of U.S. states by date of statehood|admission]] of Ohio as the 17th state). It has been ratified by 11 states:
#[[New Jersey]] on November 20, 1789
#[[Maryland]] on December 19, 1789
#[[North Carolina]] on December 22, 1789
#[[South Carolina]] on January 19, 1790
#[[New Hampshire]] on January 25, 1790
#[[New York]] on March 27, 1790
#[[Rhode Island]] on June 15, 1790
#[[Pennsylvania]] on September 21, 1791 (after rejecting it on March 10, 1790)
#[[Virginia]] on October 25, 1791
#[[Vermont]] on November 3, 1791
#[[Kentucky]] on June 24, 1792

The amendment has been rejected by one state:
#[[Delaware]] on January 28, 1790

===Titles of Nobility Amendment===

The [[Titles of Nobility Amendment]], approved by Congress in 1810, would revoke the citizenship of anyone accepting a foreign title of nobility.

The Titles of Nobility Amendment has been two states short of the total needed for ratification on two occasions: from February 27, 1812, to April 30, 1812 (from the ratification by Massachusetts until the [[List of U.S. states by date of statehood|admission]] of Louisiana as the 18th state), and from December 9, 1812, to December 11, 1816 (from the ratification by New Hampshire until the [[List of U.S. states by date of statehood|admission]] of Indiana as the 19th state). It has been ratified by 12 states:
#[[Maryland]] (December 25, 1810)
#[[Kentucky]] (January 31, 1811)
#[[Ohio]] (January 31, 1811)
#[[Delaware]] (February 2, 1811)
#[[Pennsylvania]] (February 6, 1811)
#[[New Jersey]] (February 13, 1811)
#[[Vermont]] (October 24, 1811)
#[[Tennessee]] (November 21, 1811)
#[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] (November 22, 1811)
#[[North Carolina]] (December 23, 1811)
#[[Massachusetts]] (February 27, 1812)
#[[New Hampshire]] (December 9, 1812)

The amendment has been rejected by three states:
#[[New York]] (March 12, 1812)
#[[Connecticut]] (May 13, 1813)
#[[Rhode Island]] (September 15, 1814)

===Corwin Amendment===
[[File:TCorwin.jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Corwin]], 20th [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]]]]
The [[Corwin Amendment]], approved by Congress in 1861, would have forbidden attempts to subsequently amend the Constitution to empower the Congress to "abolish or interfere" with the "domestic institutions" of the states, including "persons held to labor or service" (a reference to [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]]). Corwin's resolution emerged as the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives's]] version of an earlier, identical proposal in the Senate offered by Senator [[William H. Seward]] of New York. This amendment sought to protect [[slavery]] from federal intervention and was a last-ditch effort to avert the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]]. Little action was ever taken on this amendment after the start of the Civil War on April 12, 1861.

When viewed as an [[entrenched clause]], the Corwin Amendment—had it been ratified—might have been construed to prohibit the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]], ratified in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the nation and gave Congress enforcement power. The Corwin Amendment might also have prevented the adoption of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] and the [[Suffrage|voting rights]] amendments, all of which dealt with the states' internal affairs. A competing theory suggests a later amendment conflicting with an already-ratified Corwin Amendment would either explicitly repeal the Corwin Amendment (as the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-first Amendment]] explicitly repealed the [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighteenth Amendment]]) or been inferred to have partially or completely repealed an adopted Corwin Amendment.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Linder|first=Douglas|title=What in the Constitution Cannot be Amended?|journal=Arizona Law Review|pages=717|url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/unamendable.html}}</ref>

The amendment was ratified by three states:
#[[Ohio]] (May 13, 1861)
#[[Maryland]] (January 1862) (Actual date not known, possibly due to military activity in the Civil War)
#[[Illinois]] (1862) (this ratification is disputed as lawmakers approved the amendment while they were sitting in session as a state constitutional convention rather than as a legislature, thus causing some to see this particular ratification as possibly invalid)

===Child Labor Amendment===

[[Image:Calvin Coolidge and Israel Moore Foster.jpg|thumb|[[Calvin Coolidge]] seated at desk, with congressman [[Israel Moore Foster]], who proposed the [[Child Labor Amendment]]]]
The [[Child Labor Amendment]], approved by Congress in 1924, would give Congress authority to enact [[child labor laws in the United States|child labor regulations]] that had previously been rejected by the Supreme Court.<ref name="Keating">{{cite web |url=http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=59 |title=Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 |work=Our Documents |publisher=National Archives |accessdate=October 20, 2012}}</ref> Although only 6 states had ratified the amendment by the beginning of 1933, the total rose to 28 by the end of 1937, leaving the amendment still eight states short of the number then required. In 1941, the Supreme Court overturned its earlier rejection of federal child labor regulation in ''[[United States v. Darby Lumber Co.]]'' This decision has been described as making the Child Labor Amendment unnecessary.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=M382Q2ORQWQC&lpg=PA125&pg=PA125 |title=The Living Constitution |pages=125&ndash;126 |first=David A. |last=Strauss |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195377279}}</ref> The amendment has been ratified by 28 states:
#[[Arkansas]] (1924)
#[[Arizona]] (1925)
#[[California]] (1925)
#[[Wisconsin]] (1925)
#[[Montana]] (1927)
#[[Colorado]] (1931)
#[[Illinois]] (1933)
#[[Iowa]] (1933)
#[[Maine]] (1933)
#[[Michigan]] (1933)
#[[Minnesota]] (1933)
#[[New Hampshire]] (1933)
#[[New Jersey]] (1933)
#[[North Dakota]] (1933)
#[[Ohio]] (1933)
#[[Oklahoma]] (1933)
#[[Oregon]] (1933)
#[[Pennsylvania]] (1933)
#[[Washington (U.S. state)|Washington]] (1933)
#[[West Virginia]] (1933)
#[[Idaho]] (1935)
#[[Indiana]] (1935)
#[[Utah]] (1935)
#[[Wyoming]] (1935)
#[[Kentucky]] (1936)
#[[Kansas]] (1937)
#[[Nevada]] (1937)
#[[New Mexico]] (1937)

The amendment has been rejected by twelve states:
#[[North Carolina]] (1924)
#[[Florida]] (1925)
#[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] (1925)
#[[Massachusetts]] (1925)
#[[Missouri]] (1925)
#[[South Carolina]] (1925)
#[[Tennessee]] (1925)
#[[Texas]] (1925)
#[[Vermont]] (1925)
#[[Virginia]] (1926)
#[[Maryland]] (1927)
#[[Louisiana]] (1924, 1934, and 1936) (rejected the Child Labor Amendment on three separate occasions)

Three other state legislatures approved the amendment in one house, but not in both houses as required:
#[[Nebraska]] (1929) ''(NOTE: Nebraska's legislature did not become unicameral until 1937)''
#[[Mississippi]] (1934)
#[[New York]] (1937)

==Proposed amendments not approved by Congress ==
<!--''Please list most recent at the bottom. Show date proposed and sponsor (if known), date submitted to committee, date out of committee, date passed by Congress, expiration date for ratification, etc. as appropriate.''-->
Approximately 11,539 measures have been proposed to amend the Constitution from 1789 through January 2, 2013.<ref name=senate>{{cite web|title=Measures Proposed to Amend the Constitution|url=http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/three_column_table/measures_proposed_to_amend_constitution.htm|work=Statistics & Lists|publisher=United States Senate}}</ref> The following amendments, while introduced by a member of Congress, either died in [[Congressional committees|committee]] or did not receive a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress and were therefore not sent to the states for ratification.

===19th century===
[[Image:Abraham Lincoln seated, Feb 9, 1864.jpg|thumb|upright|'''[[Abraham Lincoln]]''', 16th President of the United States (1861–1865)]]
Over 1,300 resolutions containing over 1,800 proposals to amend the constitution had been submitted before Congress during the first century of its adoption.<ref name=Ames>{{cite book|last=Ames|first=Herman Vandenburg|title=The proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States during the first century of its history|year=1897|publisher=Government Printing Office|pages=19|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=QrMOAQAAMAAJ&dq=proposed+amendments+constitution&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s}}</ref> Some prominent proposals included:

* [[Blaine Amendment]], proposed in 1875, would have banned public funds from going to religious purposes, in order to prevent Catholics from taking advantage of such funds. Though it failed to pass, many states adopted such provisions.
* [[Christian Amendment]], proposed first in February 1863, would have added acknowledgment of the Christian God in the Preamble to the Constitution. Similar amendments were proposed in 1874, 1896 and 1910 with none passing. The last attempt in 1954 did not come to a vote.
* The [[Crittenden Compromise]], a joint resolution that included six constitutional amendments that would protect slavery. Both the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[United States Senate|Senate]] rejected it in 1861 and [[Abraham Lincoln]] was elected on a platform that opposed the expansion of slavery. The South's reaction to the rejection paved the way for the [[American_Civil_War#Secession_begins|secession]] of the [[Confederate State of America|Confederate]] states and the [[American Civil War]].

===20th century===
[[File:US Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, detail.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Harry Blackmun]] wrote the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]’s opinion in the controversial ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' decision.]]
* [[Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States#Proposed anti-miscegenation amendments|Anti-Miscegenation Amendment]] was proposed by Representative [[Seaborn Roddenbery]] in 1912 to forbid interracial marriages nationwide. Similar amendments were proposed by Congressman [[Andrew King (representative)|Andrew King]] in 1871 and by Senator [[Coleman Blease]] in 1928. None were passed by Congress.
* Anti-Polygamy Amendment, proposed by Representative [[Frederick Gillett]], a Massachusetts Republican, on January 24, 1914, and supported by former U.S. Senator from Utah and anti-Mormon activist, [[Frank J. Cannon]], and by the [[ National Reform Association (19th century, U.S.)|National Reform Association]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Iversen|first=Joan|title=The Antipolygamy Controversy in U.S. Women's Movements: 1880-1925: A Debate on the American Home|year=1997 |publisher=Routledge |location=NY|pages=243-4|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=FeVJKzGp_1sC&pg=PA243&}}</ref>
* [[Bricker Amendment]], proposed in 1951 by [[Ohio]] Senator [[John W. Bricker]], would have limited the federal government's treaty-making power. Opposed by President [[Dwight Eisenhower]], it failed twice to reach the threshold of two-thirds of voting members necessary for passage, the first time by eight votes and the second time by single vote.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bricker Amendment|url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Bricker_Amendment?rec=1398|publisher=Ohio History Central|accessdate=13 August 2013}}</ref>
* [[wikisource:Death Penalty Abolition Amendment|Death Penalty Abolition Amendment]] was proposed in 1990, 1992, 1993, and 1995 by Representative [[Henry B. Gonzalez|Henry González]] to prohibit the imposition of [[capital punishment in the United States|capital punishment]] "by any State, Territory, or other jurisdiction within the United States". The amendment was referred to the [[United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties|House Subcommittee on the Constitution]], but never made it out of committee.
* [[Flag Desecration Amendment]] was first proposed in 1968 to give Congress the power to make acts such as flag burning illegal. During each term of Congress from 1995 to 2005, the proposed amendment was passed by the House of Representatives, but never by the Senate, coming closest during voting on June 27, 2006, with 66 in support and 34 opposed (one vote short).
* [[Human Life Amendment]], first proposed in 1973, would overturn the ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' court ruling. A total of 330 proposals using varying texts have been proposed with almost all dying in committee. The only version that reached a formal floor vote, the Hatch-Eagleton Amendment, was rejected by 18 votes in the Senate on June 28, 1983.
* [[Ludlow Amendment]] was proposed by Representative [[Louis Ludlow]] in 1937. This amendment would have heavily reduced America's ability to be involved in war.

===21st century===
*A [[balanced budget amendment]], in which Congress and the President are forced to balance the budget every year, has been introduced many times.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}
* [[School Prayer Amendment]] proposed on April 9, 2003, to establish that "The people retain the right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including schools."<ref>108th Congress, {{USBill|108|HJRES|46|site=yes}}</ref>
* God in the [[Pledge of Allegiance]] – declaring that it is not an [[Establishment Clause|establishment of religion]] for teachers to lead students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (with the words "one Nation under God"), proposed on February 27, 2003, by [[Oklahoma]] Representative [[Frank Lucas (Oklahoma)|Frank Lucas]].<ref>108th Congress, {{USBill|108|HJRES|26|site=yes}}</ref>
* [[Every Vote Counts Amendment]] – proposed by Congressman [[Gene Green]] on September 14, 2004. It would abolish the [[electoral college]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hj108-103 |title=GovTrack: H. J. Res. 103 108th&#93;: Text of Legislation, Introduced in House |publisher=Govtrack.us |accessdate=2008-09-06}}</ref>
* Continuity of Government Amendment – after a Senate hearing in 2004 regarding the need for an amendment to ensure [[continuity of government]] in the event that many members of Congress become incapacitated,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.View&PressRelease_id=963 |title=Statement of Chairman Orrin G. Hatch Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary |publisher=Hatch.senate.gov |date=January 27, 2004 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040423235626/http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.View&PressRelease_id=963 |archivedate=2004-04-23}}</ref> Senator [[John Cornyn]] introduced an amendment to allow Congress to temporarily replace members after at least a quarter of either chamber is incapacitated.<ref>109th Congress, {{USBill|109|SJRES|6|site=yes}}</ref>
* [[Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment]] – proposed by Senator [[Orrin Hatch]]. It would allow naturalized citizens with at least twenty years' citizenship to become president.
* [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Seventeenth Amendment]] repeal – proposed in 2004 by [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] Senator [[Zell Miller]]. It would reinstate the appointment of Senators by state legislatures as originally required by [[Article One of the United States Constitution|Article One]], Section Three, Clauses One and Three.
* The [[Federal Marriage Amendment]] has been introduced in the [[United States Congress]] four times: in 2003, 2004, 2005/2006 and 2008 by multiple members of Congress (with support from then-President [[George W. Bush]]). It would define marriage and prohibit [[same-sex marriage]], even at the state level.
* [[Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-second Amendment]] repeal – proposed as early as 1989, various congressmen, including Rep. [[Barney Frank]], Rep. [[Steny Hoyer]], Rep. [[José Enrique Serrano|José Serrano]],<ref>111th Congress, {{USBill|111|HJRES|5}}. Introduced January 6, 2009.</ref> Rep. [[Howard Berman]], and Sen. [[Harry Reid]],<ref>101st Congress, {{USBill|101|SJRES|36}}. Sponsored by Harry Reid. January 31, 1989.</ref> have introduced legislation, but each resolution died before making it out of its respective committee. The current amendment limits the president to two elected terms in office, and up to two years succeeding a President in office. Last action was On January 4, 2013, Rep. [[José Enrique Serrano|José Serrano]] once again introduced H.J.Res. 15 proposing an Amendment to repeal the 22nd Amendment, as he has done every two years since 1997.<ref>[http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hjres15 Govtrack.us, H.J.Res. 15: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States...]</ref>
* On January 16, 2009, Senator [[David Vitter]] of Louisiana proposed an amendment which would have denied US citizenship to anyone born in the US unless at least one parent were a US citizen, a permanent resident, or in the armed forces.<ref>111th Congress, {{USBill|111|SJRES|6|site=yes}}</ref>
* On February 25, 2009, Senator [[Lisa Murkowski]], because she believed the [[District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009]] would be unconstitutional if adopted, proposed a Constitutional amendment that would provide a [[United States House of Representatives|Representative]] to the District of Columbia.<ref>111th Congress, {{USBill|111|SJRES|11|site=yes}}</ref>
* On November 11, 2009, Senator [[Jim DeMint]] proposed [[term limit]]s for the U.S. Congress, where the limit for senators will be two terms for a total of 12 years and for representatives, three terms for a total of six years.<ref>111th Congress, {{USBill|111|SJRES|21|site=yes}}</ref>
* On November 15, 2011, Representative [[James P. McGovern]] introduced the People's Rights Amendment, a proposal to limit the Constitution's protections only to the rights of [[natural persons]], and not [[corporations]]. This amendment would overturn the [[United States Supreme Court]] decision in [[Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission]].<ref>112th Congress, {{USBill|112|HJRES|88|site=yes}}</ref>
* On December 8, 2011 Senator [[Bernie Sanders]] filed The Saving American Democracy Amendment, which would state that corporations are not entitled to the same constitutional rights as people. It would also ban corporate campaign donations to candidates, and give Congress and the states broad authority to regulate spending in elections. This amendment would overturn the [[United States Supreme Court]] decision in [[Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/politics/2011/12/08/sen-bernie-sanders-i-vt-offers-constitutional-amendment-on-corporate-citizenship/ |title=Sen. Bernie Sanders, I–Vt., offers constitutional amendment on corporate "citizenship" |work=[[The Burlington Free Press]] |date=December 8, 2011 |first=Nancy |last=Remsen}}</ref><ref>[http://sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/S.J.Res..pdf Saving American Democracy Amendment]</ref>
* Rep. [[Jesse Jackson, Jr.]] backed the Right to Vote Amendment, a proposal to explicitly guarantee the [[right to vote]] for all legal U.S. citizens and empower Congress to protect this right; he introduced a resolution for the amendment in the 107th,<ref>107th Congress, {{USBill|107|HJRES|72}}</ref> 108th,<ref>108th Congress, {{USBill|108|HJRES|28}}</ref> 109th,<ref>109th Congress, {{USBill|109|HJRES|28}}</ref> 110th,<ref>110th Congress, {{USBill|110|HJRES|28}}</ref> 111th<ref>111th Congress, {{USBill|111|HJRES|28}}</ref> and 112th,<ref>112th Congress, {{USBill|112|HJRES|28}}</ref> all of which died in committee. On May 13, 2013, Reps. [[Mark Pocan]] and [[Keith Ellison]] re-introduced the bill.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://pocan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pocan-and-ellison-announce-right-to-vote-amendment|title = Pocan and Ellison Announce Right to Vote Amendment|author = Press release|publisher = Congressman Mark Pocan|date = May 13, 2013}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.usconstitution.net/constamprop.html Some proposed amendments to the United States Constitution]
* [http://ssrn.com/abstract=803864 ''Unamendments''], by [[Jason Mazzone]], [[Iowa Law Review]], Vol. 90, p.&nbsp;1747–1855, 2005.
* [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/subjects.xpd?type=crs&term=Constitutional%20amendments GovTrack: Bills by Subject: Constitutional Amendments]
* [http://www.usconstitution.net/constam.html The Amendment Process]
* [http://www.usconstitution.net/constamfail.html The Failed Amendments]

{{US Constitution}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Proposed Amendments To The United States Constitution}}
[[Category:Proposed amendments to the United States Constitution| ]]
[[Category:United States law-related lists]]
[[Category:United States law-related lists]]

Revision as of 19:02, 23 October 2013