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Chapter 2 |
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The framers were also concerned with creating a national government strong enough to solve national problems. Thus, they gave the national government substantial grants of power, but these grants were made with such broad strokes that it has been possible for the constitutional system to remain flexible and adapt to changing conditions.
Judicial review is the power of the courts to strike down acts of Congress, the executive branch, and the states as unconstitutional. It is one of the unique features of the U. S. constitutional system. Although the American governmental system has its roots in British traditions, our separation of and checks-and-balances systems differ sharply from the British system of concentrated power. It is also different because our courts have this power of judicial review.
The constitutional system has been modified over time, adapting to new conditions through congressional elaboration, presidential practices, customs and usages, and judicial interpretation.
Although adaptable, the Constitution itself needs to be altered from time to time, and the document provides a procedure for its own amendment. An amendment must be both proposed and ratified: proposed by either a two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress or by a national convention called by Congress on petition of the legislatures in two-thirds of the states; ratified either by the legislatures in three-fourths of the states or by specially called ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states. The Constitution has been formally amended 27 times. The usual method has been proposal by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress and ratification by the legislatures in three-fourths of the states.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was first introduced in 1923 but did not garner significant support until the 1960s. The National Organization for Women, founded in 1966, focused on passage of the ERA, securing the submission of the amendment to the states by Congress in 1972. However, early overwhelming bipartisan support for the ERA ebbed in the 1970s, and in 1980 the Republican Party adopted a stance of neutrality. Ratification by state legislatures slowed to a trickle as the 1979 time limit on the amendment ran out. Although the deadline was extended to 1982, it was still three state legislatures short of ratification when it expired.
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