Four Sections
What is your amendment? Write it exactly how you would want it to appear in the Constitution, using constitutional language. Look to the other amendments as examples.
What will your amendment specifically do? For example… Are you granting new powers/rights or removing powers/rights? Are you adding to the Constitution or repealing a previous component? How will your amendment specifically change American government and/or society?
What is the reason for your amendment? Why is it needed? Why cant it just be a regular law? In this section, you should make a strong case for why your constitutional amendment should be adopted. Remember, you are proposing to amend the supreme law of the land. It has only been amended 27 times in 230 years. Why should your proposed amendment make the cut? (You should cite outside sources here, in order to make a strong case.)
What are your proposed amendments chances of ratification? Regardless of if its a good idea or not, can it get the necessary 2/3 of the House and Senate and 3/4 of the states to ratify it? Explain in detail why it can or cannot. (Think about the policy stances of the Democrats and Republicans, their majorities in the House and Senate, and the blue and red states out in the country.)
Tips
Constitutional amendments typically do one of three things: (1) Provide rights (or codify rights) for everyone or for groups of people that have faced discrimination, (2) Give new powers to the federal government and/or remove powers from the states, (3) Specify or change how the government operates. Try to propose an amendment that falls in one of these categories, or…
Your amendment may clarify or repeal an existing amendment to the Constitution.
