what is the constitutional amendment process
The amendment process is very difficult and time consuming: A proposed amendment must be passed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, then ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. The ERA Amendment did not pass the necessary majority of state legislatures in the 1980s. Another option to start the amendment process is that two-thirds of the state legislatures could ask Congress to call a Constitutional Convention. A new Constitutional Convention has never happened, but the idea has its backers. A retired federal judge, Malcolm R. Wilkey, called a few years ago for a new convention.