Amending the Constitution

Amending the Constitution
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How to amend the Constitution to improve the Supreme Court or federal judiciary
Introduction
Amending the US constitution remains the most complicated task and process. The complicated nature of the process is to avert rampant cases of changing the articles of the constitution by introducing new closes. It was also made difficult to avoid abuse by the ruling class who would introduce laws that suit their interests including policies. Since the launching of the US constitution in the year 1789, it has been amended only 27 times. The limited number of times depicts how difficult and vigorous nature of the process, however, it can still be done.
As noted by, Amending the US Constitution especially the clauses that touch on the bill of rights, the judiciary, federal courts, Supreme Court, and policy areas are very difficult. The protection of the articles of any form of abuse was to promote the independence of the institutions and irregular alteration of the bill of rights including other sensitive articles that affect the majority directly or indirectly. The unsuccessful amendment trials are common in the US history because the proposals have not been receiving adequate support. Other hindering factors are the cost involved in executing the constitutional amendments and acceptance by all federal governments. This has made some of the amendments to be done under Acts of Parliament that does not overrule the constitutional provisions and decisions of the court.

This paper gives credible information about how constitutional amendments on the functionality of the Supreme Court or federal courts can be executed effectively.
How to amend Supreme Court law
As noted, there have been spirited attempts to amend some clauses of Article iii of the US Constitution that establish the court system (supreme and federal courts and others). The attempts are driven by the need to strengthen some of the mandates of the courts while some aim at reducing the powers of the courts. For instance, there is a spirited move to have the law changed to reduce the Supreme Court powers over the laws made or passed by the Congress. Another proposal is to amend the constitution to increase the judges’ panel to 9 members up from 5 members to validate decisions they make through 7 to 2 voting pattern instead of 5 to 4 voting criteria. To achieve this, Section 3 Clause 6 where the court and the chief justice draw superior powers have to be changed through a constitutional amendment and nothing less. The amendment requires full adherence to the constitutional amendment process from the preamble stages to completion. The only way to realize the changes is through embracing the laid down process as stipulated in Article V of the Constitution.
The focus of this paper is to establish how to execute the proposed amendment that seeks to curb the courts powers to guarantee the autonomy of the Congress can. The proposal seeks to cut the powers of courts of declaring the Acts passed by the Congress unconstitutional. The plan is to make or increase the powers of Congress and enable it to have an expanded decision including law-making role. Similarly, it aims at making the Congress the final judge of its exclusive powers delegated by the constitution.
Amendment process
According to National Archives (2), the American Constitution lays out the major processes of amending the constitution that can properly help in this case. As contained in Article V, the elaborate amendment process starts by the proposal of the amendment and ends by its ratification. The amendment proposals can be in two methods. The first one is by the Congress where a vote on a proposal is taken in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The proposal moves to the next stage when a two-thirds supermajority supports it in both houses. Similarly, the proposal can be passed by a constitutional convention that is called by two-thirds of the state legislature members. Once the document or proposal has been passed, it is forwarded to the National Archives Records Administrator’s (NARAs) office for administration, processing and publication.
After processing and effective information, packaging has been done, the archivist then sends the proposed amendment to the states with a letter of notification to the governor. Upon receipt, the governors forward the amendment document to the state legislature for deliberation and subsequent adoption. The outcome of the deliberations in the States is submitted to the National Archives for preservation and action by the office of registrar (OFR). If the document receives overwhelming support from the states of over three-fourth, it becomes an acceptable part of the constitution. However, the failure to meet the standard automatically disqualifies it from being part of the constitution. Once the (OFR) has exhausted verification of the results and establishes that over 38 out of 50 states have passed the amendments, a formal proclamation is sent to the Archivist to certify the amendment’s validity and subsequent acceptance to become part of the constitution.
The certification is followed by its publication in the federal register and US statutes to serve as an official notice to the Congress and the nation about the completion of the amendment process. Therefore, the proposed constitutional amendment to strengthen the powers of the Congress by curbing the courts authority over Congress decisions will go through the rigorous process of constitutional amendment prescribed under Article V of the Constitution as presented.
How to amend the proposed amendment
Indeed, the proposed amendment to curb the Supreme Court powers of declaring Congress Acts unconstitutional requires a constitutional amendment given that it touches on the highly protected provisions or sections of the US Constitution. The proposal will first be presented to the House of Representatives and the Senate for voting. Here, it will have to receive over two-thirds of the support for it to move to the next stage. Its passage will lead it to the Archivist or NARAs department of the state where the amendment will be administered, processed and publication by the office of the federal registrar (OFR). OFR will then submit the proposed amendment to the states and provide a letter of notification to the governors. At this stage, the governors will formally forward the amendment document to the legislature for deliberation and voting to either accept or reject. The results will then be sent back to the archives for OFR to examine and publish the results when over 38 of the 52 states are in support of the proposal. IF this is successful, then the proposed law to curb the powers of the courts will become part of the constitution and
Justification of the proposed amendment
The proposed constitutional amendment to reduce the powers of the courts regarding invalidation of the Congress Acts passed is supported by most legislators and several stakeholders who believe that it is time to create a clear mandate for the institutions. The amendment is doubt to be in the best interest of the nation’s sustainability and effective operation of the Congress and the judiciary. Currently, the two arms of government are fighting over supremacy and overstepping of functions given that the courts (Supreme Court, federal courts, and other courts) have always declared the Acts passed by the Congress invalid.
The notable reason given about the proposed amendment is that the courts should not have broader powers of judicial review at any given time such as the powers the US Supreme Court enjoys. It has never been witnessed anywhere in the World, and evidence indicates that such a system cannot work well towards improving progress in a nation. Another reason for the amendment is that a constitutional government cannot work or operate effectively without judicial review powers. This is because there are certain policy areas and new governance structures that require constitutional amendments through the Acts of Congress. The amendments should be deemed valid by all agencies including the courts.
As noted by, One of the roles of the Congress and the Senate is to make laws and to the debate about the necessary changes required for effective service delivery to the people. To this extent, the Acts they put in place should not be invalidated as this renders them irrelevant. The fact that the Congress has lost its powers or lacks the last word on questions touching on the Constitution makes it difficult for the legislators to contribute on weighty matters of national importance. They see no need for participation in law making and policy deliberations given that the courts will at one time invalidate the decisions. Therefore, it is prudent for the amendment procedure provided in Article V of the Constitution be followed.
Bibliography
Cushman, Robert. The Supreme Court and the Constitution (Public Affairs Pamphlet, No. 7, 1936), pp. 1-36.
National Archives. The Constitutional Amendment Process. (2014. Web. 14th Nov. 2015), 1.
Querra, Darren. Perfecting the Constitution: the case for the Article V amendment process. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. 2013), 1-53.
Tushnet, Mark, and Amar, Vikram. Global perspectives on constitutional law. (2014. Web. 14th Nov. 2015), 1-32.
Vile, John. Encyclopedia of constitutional amendments, proposed amendments, and amending issues, 1789-2015. Santa Barbara, (California: ABC-CLIO, (2015), 2-34.