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LexisNexis Explains Constitutional Amendment Process
Bush Administration Has Seen Two Serious Attempts to Make Changes
DAYTON, OH, September 01, 2004 - In January, President George W. Bush said he would support a constitutional amendment that would define a marriage as a union between one man and one woman, essentially banning same-sex marriages. Then, on Flag Day, a Texas senator called for an amendment to protect the flag of the United States from burning or other acts of desecration.
As Americans prepare to decide who will occupy the White House for the next four years, Congress is preparing for what could be a record year for movements to amend the Constitution. Despite the public plea for change, amending the Constitution is not as easy as simply calling for a vote. Thus, to help the public better understand the process, LexisNexis®, a leading provider of news, business and legal information, has launched a public website dedicated to explaining how the Constitution can be amended.
The site is at http://www.lexisnexis.com/constitution
A sampling of some of the information contained on the site:
- An amendment to the Constitution is an improvement, a correction or a revision to the original content approved in 1788. To date, 27 Amendments have been approved, six have been disapproved and thousands have been discussed.
- The first 10 amendments are called the Bill of Rights. All were ratified as a group on the same day. The remaining 17 were ratified individually. The 27th Amendment was actually proposed with the original Bill of Rights but was not ratified until 1992. One other amendment proposed with the original Bill of Rights was not approved.
- The 27th Amendment took 202 years, 7 months, 12 days. Twelve amendments were proposed to Congress on September 25, 1789. Numbers 3-12 were approved, and became the first 10 amendments. Number 1, related to congressional apportionment, has since become irrelevant. Number 2 was initially ratified by six states, but fell short of the necessary approval by three fourths of the states.
- "Proposed" amendments that never made it out of committee or were never given much credence include: To allow for any person who has been a citizen of the United States for 20 years or more to be eligible for the Presidency. (107th Congress, 2001-2002); To declare that life begins at conception and that the 5th and 14th amendments apply to unborn children (106th Congress, 1999-2000); To remove automatic citizenship of children born in the U.S. to non-resident parents (103rd Congress, 1993-1994); To prohibit abortion (103rd Congress, 1993-1994); To disallow the desecration of the U.S. flag (102nd Congress, 1991-1992); To prohibit involuntary bussing of students (102nd Congress, 1991- 1992).
For complete election coverage, visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/campaign2004/.
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis® (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leader in comprehensive and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored applications. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK] (www.reedelsevier.com), the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide. In addition to its flagship Web-based Lexis® and Nexis® research services, the company includes some of the world’s most respected legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew Bender, Butterworths, JurisClasseur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac .
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