Program Information

The United States has the most difficult to amend constitution in the entire world. People might remember that it takes two-thirds of each house of Congress and three-quarters of the states. This means that in order to win what I call the amendment game, you have to get 67 votes in the Senate, whatever two-thirds of 435 is in the House plus a minimum of 75 state legislative houses. That’s if you want to change the Constitution.

The United States Constitution has been the foundation for the United States government and its citizens for over two hundred years. Many people believe it is the “gold standard” for fledgling democracies all over the world. It calls for the citizens to be active and for government to be accountable to those they govern. Many historians believe the Constitution has made our nation as successful and as powerful as it is; however, many of our citizens have not read or do not understand the Constitution and the foundation of our government. “Questioning the Constitution” looks at the development of the constitution, how it has been interpreted and questions whether the constitution should be reformed. This one-hour documentary was produced by WCVE PBS in partnership with the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Transcript

LEVINSON: The United States has the most difficult to amend constitution in the entire world. People might remember that it takes two-thirds of each house of Congress and three-quarters of the states. This means that in order to win what I call the amendment game, you have to get 67 votes in the Senate, whatever two-thirds of 435 is in the House plus a minimum of 75 state legislative houses. That’s if you want to change the Constitution.

SABATO: There have been 9000 amendments submitted to Congress. Most of them should have been killed. But should virtually all of them have been killed without submitting to the states for ratification? There were a lot of good ideas in there. Maybe they were a relative handful compared to the bad ideas, but Congress has been very stingy in submitting proposals and amendments to the States for ratification.

DOLE: I went back and checked from the time I entered the Senate in 1968 till I left in 1996, and I think there were 35 or 40 attempts to amend the Constitution. I supported DC statehood, which didn’t make it. It was only ratified by, I think, 16 of the required 38 states. You can go down the list: balanced budget amendment, voluntary prayer in school. Line item veto. Abortion rights. Some of those things I think should happen. Others, I just as soon they didn’t happen.

STEELE: One of the first pieces of legislation I worked on was the, the voting bill. The amendment in ’78 for the DC residents to get to vote. And it went through the, you know it’s just fascinating to be that close to it and watch this process unfold. The negotiations and the arguments and the threats and all that just to get it out of the Congress. And then you’re sending it to 50 state legislatures, all of whom have a very different perspective and understanding of the District of Columbia. And it ain’t happening. The states are like “I don’t think so.” And so you don’t get your number but that’s the process.

FERRARO: We tried to get an Equal Rights Amendment put into the Constitution because if you take a close look at it, you know women were almost left out. We, we got the 19th Amendment to vote. I worked on the Equal Rights Amendment when I was in Congress. It had taken from the time, from 1923 to 1972 for it to come to the Congress for discussion. We haven’t excluded people because of race, we had an amendment that stopped that. But let’s stop excluding and discriminating against women because of gender and let’s put it in the Constitution.

BOND: Had it passed, it would have been a great step forward for human rights, and I think for relations between men and women in this country, but it failed. I guess the procedure, at least from my knowledge, seems to be OK. Everybody has a say, everybody has a chance to say yes or no.

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