Bush and Amendments to the Constitution

[luvmetender]

I'm not sure I heard this right on the national news tonight. Not only is Bush proposing a constitutional amendment to disallow gay marriages, but he also has been in favor for an amendment to ban abortion, allow prayer in public schools, and I missed the rest because I was cooking dinner and couldn't hear it. Did anyone else catch this?

Wow, talk about mixing religion and politics. This guy is on a crusade. Is it clear to all what his agenda is?

[pandybat]

He is trying to take all the progress that has been made over the years concerning those issues and setting them back to the beginning. This will only cause more conflict and more money to be spent to fight those battles all over again to get back to where we are today. I don't see the point in it all really.

[crazytimes]

The Constituional is our most sacred legal document.

We should not take this lightly.

This is playing with fire...the Constituion, IMO, should NOT be ameneded unless it an EXTREME, pressing issue.

Gay Marriage is NOT so important that we need an Constituional amendment about it!

[pandybat]

More than 11,000 constitutional amendments have been proposed since the nation was founded; only 27 have passed.

Past constitutional amendments on such politically charged issues as flag-burning and balancing the federal budget have failed to pass.

THE CONSTITUTION'S AMENDMENTS
The Constitution has been amended 27 times. The first 10 amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.
(the first year listed is the year it was proposed, the second year is the year it was adopted)

I Freedom of religion, press, expression 1789 1791
II Right to bear arms 1789 1791
III Quartering of soldiers 1789 1791
IV Search and seizure 1789 1791
V Trial and punishment, compensation for takings 1789 1791
VI Right to speedy trial, confrontation of witnesses 1789 1791
VII Trial by jury in civil cases 1789 1791
VIII Cruel and unusual punishment 1789 1791
IX Construction of Constitution 1789 1791
X Powers of the states and people 1789 1791
XI Judicial limits 1794 1795
XII Choosing the president, vice- president 1803 1804
XIII Sl***** abolished 1865 1865
XIV Citizenship rights 1866 1868
XV Race no bar to vote 1869 1870
XVI Income taxes authorized 1909 1913
XVII Senators elected by popular vote 1912 1913
XVIII Liquor abolished 1917 1919*
XIX Women's suffrage 1919 1920
XX Presidential, Congressional terms 1932 1933
XXI XVIII repealed 1933 1933
XXII Presidential term limits 1947 1951
XXIII Presidential vote for District of Columbia 1960 1961
XXIV Poll tax barred 1962 1964
XXV Presidential disability and succession 1965 1967
XXVI Voting age set to 18 years 1971 1971
XXVII Congressional pay increases 1789 1992

*Repealed by XXI, Dec. 5, 1933
Source: Chronicle research
Chronicle Graphic

An amendment to ban same-sex marriage, like the amendment that banned the sale of liquor, "takes away a right (in order) to enforce a national moral code," said Jesse Choper, professor of constitutional law at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall. Other legal experts say amendments like this are 'exercises in moral policing'.

The drafters of the Constitution deliberately made it hard to amend, requiring a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress and approval by three- quarters of the states. As James Madison explained in the Federalist Papers, amendments were to be reserved "for certain great and extraordinary occasions."

[lukemason]

I find this troubling that in this day in age
the government is stripping the US Peoples rights away more and more E.G.: the Patriot Act parts 1 and 2 and more sense when did the government own us I think it's time that the people take back the government soon because it's only going to get worst before it gets better

[Taxman]

There would be no need to even attempt to amend the Constitution if we didn't have a generation of activist judges who place there own biases ahead of not only common law, but constitutional as well! No where in the Constitution does it provide for abortion, gay marriage, drug laws, ect. What it does provide is that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." In other words, if it's not in the Constitution, it's up to the states to decide, not the Feds, not some idealistic judge in California or Massachusetts! How about we live by what the actual law of the land states and knock it off with all the rest of this junk?