Legal amendment

“ That Amendment, repeatedly held by the Supreme Court to be part of the original Constitution, is the clear declaration that no power of any kind over us, the citizens of America, is granted in that Constitution to any government save the government of America, and to it only the enumerated powers of that kind in the First Article. ”

“ The constitution which at any time exists till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly obligatory upon all. If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates ”

“ The Court itself can best undo what the Court has done.
I have thus explained to you the reasons that lie behind our efforts to secure results by legislation within the Constitution. I hope that thereby the difficult process of constitutional amendment may be rendered unnecessary. But let us examine that process.
There are many types of amendment proposed. Each one is radically different from the other. There is no substantial group within the Congress or outside it who are agreed on any single amendment. ”

“ More careful investigation may prove the law to be unsound in principle. Experience may show it to be imperfect in detail and impracticable in execution. And then both reason and right combine not merely to justify but to require its repeal.
The Constitution, supreme, as it is, over all the departments of the Government—legislative, executive, and judicial—is open to amendment by its very terms; and Congress or the States may, in their discretion, propose amendment to it, solemn compact though it in truth is between the sovereign States of the Union. ”

“ By the proposition the prohibitions and guaranties of the Amendment are addressed to and control the states only in their complete governmental capacity, and as a result give no authority to exert Federal judicial power until, by the decision of a court of last resort of a state, acts complained of under the 14th Amendment have been held valid, and therefore state acts in the fullest sense. ”

“ The purpose of that Amendment is to extend to the citizens and residents of the states the same protection against arbitrary state legislation affecting life, liberty, and property, as is afforded by the 5th Amendment against similar legislation by Congress. ”

“ The legislatures of two thirds of the states may require a convention to be called, for the purpose of proposing amendments. In each case, three fourths of the states, either through their legislatures, or conventions, called for the purpose, must concur in every amendment, before it becomes a part of the constitution. That this mode of obtaining amendments is practicable, is abundantly demonstrated by our past experience in the only mode hitherto found necessary, that of amendments proposed by congress. ”

“ That amendment declares that no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. ”

“ What can we add to the Constitution which will make it more effective as an instrument in the protection of life, liberty, and property for us here in America?
Remember, we the American people can add anything to the Constitution that we wish. Nineteen amendments to the Constitution have already been adopted by the people. Do not feel discouraged because it takes a little time to secure the adoption of an amendment. The Constitution should not be amended hastily, but only after grave thought and earnest consideration. ”

“ Communities, like individuals, resent even fa ors ungraciously bestowed. The appropriate mode of enforcing the amendment is, in my judgment, that which has been applied to other previously existing constitutional prohibitions, such as the one against a state passing a law impairing the obligation of contracts, or a bill of attainder, or an ex post facto law. ”

“ In recognition of our place in the constitutional scheme, we must act with "great gravity and delicacy" when telling a coordinate branch that its actions are absolutely prohibited absent constitutional amendment. ”

“ While the relevant inquiry may be aided by resort to one or more of the provisions of the Bill of Rights, it is not dependent on them or any of their radiations. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment stands, in my opinion, on its own bottom. ”

“ Again, in the case of a power, it is a settled rule that we may not extend its scope beyond what is expressed, or to be implied of necessity from what is expressed, in the instrument containing it and also that the requirements prescribed by the instrument for its due execution must be fulfilled.
A power of amendment is not an essential part of, or provision in, or addition to, a Constitution. ”

“ They do not derive their existence from its legislation, and cannot be destroyed by its power.
The amendment does not attempt to confer any new privileges or immunities upon citizens, or to enumerate or define those already existing. It assumes that there are such privileges and immunities which belong of right to citizens as such, and ordains that they shall not be abridged by State legislation. ”

“ As soon as the constitution was adopted, this right was secured by the seventh amendment of the constitution proposed by congress; and which received an assent of the people so general, as to establish its importance as a fundamental guaranty of the rights and liberties of the people. ”

“ On the contrary, we shall find every opponent of the supposed new Amendment making easy the way of its supporters by joining in the common assumption of all and predicating every argument against the new Amendment on the same extraordinary assumption that the Fifth Article is a grant of power to the grantors and to the state governments. Not once, in any brief or argument of the most renowned lawyers in America, shall we find even the faintest knowledge of two facts which must be so if the Fifth Article is a grant of power to the two supposed grantees. ”

“ Rep. 111, it is pointed out by Mr. Justice MATTHEWS, speaking for the court, that the words 'due process of law,' as used in the fifth amendment, cannot be regarded as superfluous, and held to include the matters specifically enumerated in that article; and that, when the same phrase was employed in the fourteenth amendment, it was used in the same sense, and with no greater extent. ”

“ Some amendment to existing legislation may be necessary, but this does not shed any light on the interpretation of the old law. The difficulty arises from the change that has been made, not from the law as it stood originally. ”

“ If Congressional determination that an amendment has been completed and become a part of the Constitution is final and removed from examination by the courts, as the Court's present opinion recognizes, surely the steps leading to that condition must be subject to the scrutiny, control and appraisal of none save the Congress, the body having exclusive power to make that final determination. ”

“ Our discussion naturally divides itself into two branches: first, as to the right, or constitutional power, to adopt the proposed amendment; and secondly, as to the expediency and necessity of it.
I. THE RIGHT, UNDER THE CONSTITUTION, TO ADOPT THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT.
No characteristic of the American people is more marked than their regard for law; and in nothing is that characteristic more striking than in their respect for the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. Whatever seems to come in conflict with that supreme law must encounter an irresistible odium. ”

“ If, however, by reason of a change in circumstances, or for any426 cause, a portion of the people believe they ought to have their rights more exactly defined or more fully explained in the Constitution, it is their duty, in accordance with its provisions, to seek a remedy by way of amendment to that instrument; and it is the duty of all the States to concur in such amendments as may be found necessary to insure equal and exact justice to all. ”

“ The argument to support the power of the state to require the approval by the people of the state of the ratification of amendments to the federal Constitution through the e dium of a referendum rests upon the proposition that the federal Constitution requires ratification by the legislative action of the states through the medium provided at the time of the proposed approval of an amendment. ”

“ To guard against civil discord as well as the impending danger, permit me most ardently to request your most serious attention to the measure of recommending to the Legislatures of the several States that they effect a remedy in the premises by an amendment to the constitution; and that to give further weight to this matter the delegation of this state in Congress be required to urge that body to propose such an amendment to the said several Legislatures. ”

“ In legislation, the words "amendment" and "amend" are constantly employed in the sense of "repeal" especially when reference is made to the amendment of a lengthy document, such as the Constitution or an Act of Parliament, by a repeal, total as to some provisions of the enactment, but partial when considered in relation to the document as a whole. ”

“ A society can amend its constitution and by-laws so as to affect the emoluments and duties of officers already elected, or even to do away with the office altogether. If it is desired that the amendment should not affect officers already elected, a motion to that effect should be adopted before voting on the amendment ”

“ Although legislative measures adopted by the people's chosen representatives provide one important means of ascertaining contemporary values, it is evident that legislative judgments alone cannot be determinative of Eighth Amendment standards since that Amendment was intended to safeguard individuals from the abuse of legislative power. ”

“ That is to say, the theory of the Amendment is that where an officer or other representative of a state, in the exercise of the authority with which he is clothed, misuses the power possessed to do a wrong forbidden by the Amendment, inquiry concerning whether the state has authorized the wrong is irrelevant, and the Federal judicial power is competent to afford redress for the wrong by dealing with the officer and the result of his exertion of power. ”

“ Protection to life, liberty, and property rests, primarily, with the states, and the amendment furnishes an additional guaranty against any encroachment by the states upon those fundamental rights which belong to citizenship, and which the state governments were created to secure. ”

“ Therefore, as authority for Congress, you have two sources in the Constitution itself,—first, the guaranty clause, and, secondly, the Constitutional Amendment, each sufficient, the two together a twofold sufficiency. To establish the Equal Rights of All, no further Amendment is needed. The actual text is exuberant. Instead of adding new words, it will be enough, if you give those that exist the natural force belonging to them. ”

“ The first issue to be determined was the meaning of the 14th Amendment. The ruling in Virginia v. Rives was reiterated, the court saying:
'They have reference to actions of the political body denominated a state, by whatever instruments or in whatever modes that action may be taken. A state acts by its legislative, its executive, or its judicial authorities. It can act in no other way. ”