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What Are the Odds of Passing a New Amendment?
Aired February 24, 2004 - 14:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Passing a constitutional amendment requires two-thirds approval from both houses of Congress as well as the legislatures in three-quarters of the states. Here to talk about it, Susan Low Bloch, a constitutional attorney and professor at Georgetown University Law School. Hi, Susan.
All right, let's put this in perspective here. The last amendment to actually make it was proposed 200 years ago, right?
SUSAN LOW BLOCH, GEORGETOWN LAW SCHOOL: That is right. That's sort of an aberration. But, yes, that's exactly right. Today what happens when Congress puts forth an amendment is they usually put a time limit on so that won't happen again. But, you're right. The 27th Amendment was started 200 years ago.
PHILLIPS: Remind me about that amendment.
BLOCH: That amendment basically says that if the House or the Senate raises its pay, it won't -- the pay raise won't go into effect until there's been another election. It was one of Madison's initial Bill of Rights amendments that took 200 years to get adopted.
PHILLIPS: OK. So now let's talk about what happened today and the proposal that the president made. Seriously, put it in perspective for us. What's the chance or the odds, I guess you could say, that are up against this proposal?
BLOCH: Well, it is very hard to get a constitutional amendment adopted as your reporters indicated. And in fact since those first Bill of Rights that we adopted right in the beginning, there have only been 17 other amendments, total of 27.
So that it is very difficult, and it should be difficult. It's unusual to have an amendment like this one, which deals with sort of a social event and it's unusual in that it's going to limit what states can do so that the chances of it getting adopted are, I would think, somewhat limited.
PHILLIPS: And here we are, a political year. It's definitely a hot political topic. No coincidence the timing, would you say?
BLOCH: I think it's not a coincidence at all. I think that it's an issue that President Bush's right wing would support. And I think it's not surprising that it's coming up now.
PHILLIPS: It will be interesting, a lot of these proposals a reflection of the mood of the nation, yes? BLOCH: Yes. I think so. I think -- but I think the country is, excuse me, careful about changing the Constitution on a matter like this.
PHILLIPS: Constitutional attorney Susan Low Bloch, we appreciate it. Professor also at Georgetown. Grab you a glass of water there. We'll talk to you later. Thanks, Susan.
BLOCH: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 24, 2004 - 14:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Passing a constitutional amendment requires two-thirds approval from both houses of Congress as well as the legislatures in three-quarters of the states. Here to talk about it, Susan Low Bloch, a constitutional attorney and professor at Georgetown University Law School. Hi, Susan.
All right, let's put this in perspective here. The last amendment to actually make it was proposed 200 years ago, right?
SUSAN LOW BLOCH, GEORGETOWN LAW SCHOOL: That is right. That's sort of an aberration. But, yes, that's exactly right. Today what happens when Congress puts forth an amendment is they usually put a time limit on so that won't happen again. But, you're right. The 27th Amendment was started 200 years ago.
PHILLIPS: Remind me about that amendment.
BLOCH: That amendment basically says that if the House or the Senate raises its pay, it won't -- the pay raise won't go into effect until there's been another election. It was one of Madison's initial Bill of Rights amendments that took 200 years to get adopted.
PHILLIPS: OK. So now let's talk about what happened today and the proposal that the president made. Seriously, put it in perspective for us. What's the chance or the odds, I guess you could say, that are up against this proposal?
BLOCH: Well, it is very hard to get a constitutional amendment adopted as your reporters indicated. And in fact since those first Bill of Rights that we adopted right in the beginning, there have only been 17 other amendments, total of 27.
So that it is very difficult, and it should be difficult. It's unusual to have an amendment like this one, which deals with sort of a social event and it's unusual in that it's going to limit what states can do so that the chances of it getting adopted are, I would think, somewhat limited.
PHILLIPS: And here we are, a political year. It's definitely a hot political topic. No coincidence the timing, would you say?
BLOCH: I think it's not a coincidence at all. I think that it's an issue that President Bush's right wing would support. And I think it's not surprising that it's coming up now.
PHILLIPS: It will be interesting, a lot of these proposals a reflection of the mood of the nation, yes? BLOCH: Yes. I think so. I think -- but I think the country is, excuse me, careful about changing the Constitution on a matter like this.
PHILLIPS: Constitutional attorney Susan Low Bloch, we appreciate it. Professor also at Georgetown. Grab you a glass of water there. We'll talk to you later. Thanks, Susan.
BLOCH: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
