Amendments Summary There are 27 ratified, or officially binding, amendments that have been added to the U.S. Constitution. An amendment is an addition made to the United States Constitution that defines a citizen's rights or adds a procedural element to the law. Amendments 1-27 include laws ...
The final resolution called for the amendments offered by the convention to be ratified by assemblies. The plan was not satisfactory to some delegates, especially those from the less populous states, and an alternative proposal known as the New Jersey Plan was introduced by William Paterson on ...
Within six months of the time the amendments–the Bill of Rights–had been submitted to the states, nine had ratified them. Two more states were needed; Virginia’s ratification, on December 15, 1791, made the Bill of Rights part of the Constitution. (Ten amendments were ratified; two othe...
There are a number of landmark cases that have been based on Constitutional amendments decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Learn about some of the...
Throughout the United States, 37 state constitutions had “Blaine Amendments” — named after 19th century Congressman James Blaine nearly 150 years ago — that unfairly prohibited aid to religiously affiliated schools that could otherwise be given to secular schools. Because of these Amendments, mill...
The Supreme Court, being of the view that the proposed amendments would have a direct bearing on the outcome of the Writ Petition, did not pronounce a judgment on the issue at that time. It decided to leave all questions open to be decided after the proposed amendments were made, and disp...
The case of the petitioners was that, cumulatively, these amendments entirely destroyed the conception of equality running through Article 14, 15 and 16, which was part of the basic structure of the Constitution. The Court recognised (as it had to) that equality was part of the basic structur...
Summary: USA gets Strong National Government Nationalist sentiment led by veterans Washington; Alexander Hamilton (NY) Long term vision of great nation Philadelphia: secret convention 1787 Terms of Office: 2-4-6 years Supreme Court; lifetime job ...
Three of these amendments, in particular, had a decidedly strong impact on the case selection process. The first limited the Court's focus explicitly to just those specific complaints that were already decided by ordinary courts in specific cases. It was a significant change that, once again, ...
Contemporary case law in the United States surrounding the establishment clause of the federal Constitution has entered a period of remarkable uncertainty. Now is an appropriate time to revisit the legal foundations of the Supreme Court’s seminal cases