Procedure For Amendments

The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either

by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of
Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called
for by two-thirds of the State legislatures.

• A constitutional amendment alters the content of a constitutional

text in a formal way.
• Constitutions need to be amended over time to adjust provisions that
are inadequate, to respond to new needs, including supplementing
rights, etc. Otherwise, the text of a constitution cannot reflect social
realities and political needs over time. Yet the constitution also needs
to be protected from short-sighted or partisan amendments.
• Some form of formal amendment procedures are a near-universal
feature of contemporary constitutions. Thus, for constitutionmakers,
the relevant question is not so much whether there
should be a provision addressing formal amendments, but what
needs to be considered while drafting it.
• All democratic countries in the world have a provision in their
constitution regulating the conditions for amending it
 Amendment Process In The Constitution of Pakistan

> The Constitution of Pakistan is said to be rigid and flexible at the

same time when it comes to making amendments. A constitution is
rigid in the sense that it cannot be amended in the manner in which
ordinary laws are passed or amended. In Pakistan, a 2/3rd majority is
required to pass a constitutional amendment Bill as compared to a
simple majority needed for passing ordinary or institutional Billls.
However it is still considered flexible as compared to the US
constitution that has a more rigid amendment procedure.
> Articles 238 and 239 (in Part XI) provide for the amendment
procedure in the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.
> According to Article 238, the Constitution may be amended by an Act
of Parliament, which means that it would follow a similar procedure as
that of passing a Bill.
> According to Article 239, an amending Bill can be initiated in either of
the two Houses of Parliament.
> For example, it may originate in the National Assembly and after
being passed by 2/3rd majority of the House, it shall be transmitted to
the other House, the Senate.
> If the other House also passes the amending Bill with 2/3rd majority
of the total membership, without any further amendments, the Bill
shall be presented to the President for assent.

> If the Bill originates in one House and is passed accordingly, and then
sent to the other House for approval, and if it is also passed in the other
House by 2/3rd majority, but with further amendments, it shall be sent
back to the House where it originated, for reconsideration.
> After reconsideration of the proposed changes by the originating
House, if the Bill is passed including those amendments and changes,
by 2/3rd majority, then it shall be presented to the President for assent.
> If there is an amending Bill relating to the altering of provincial
boundaries, then it shall not be presented to the President unless the
same Bill has been passed in the concerned Provincial Assembly by the
votes of not less than 2/3rd of its total membership.
> Article 239 also entails that no amendment of the Constitution shall
be called in question in any court on any ground. It should also be
noted that according to this Article, there is no limitation on the power
of the Parliament to amend any provisions of the Constitution.

Changes in the Amendments of US Constitution

Some of the most prominent examples of amendments that have been

passed in the entire world include the ones that have been made in the
constitution of the United States. The provision for an amendment to
be made is in Article V of the US constitution.In fact, the first ten
amendments passed in the constitution of the United States are named
the Bill of Rights. In total, about 27 amendments have been passed for
the particular constitution. In order to pass the amendment, about two-
thirds of all the members present in every single Congress house have
to make their approval. It also must be ratified by three-fourths of the
total number of states. The US congress will get to decide whether the
ratification is to be done by the legislatures in the state or by some
prevalently chosen conventions existing in different states. The system
of using the conventions has been utilized in just one case and it was
during the passing of the 21st amendment. In certain states of the US
constitution, the proposed amendments must have the approval of the
voters in a particular referendum.