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Can you legally Amend the Bill of Rights?

Can the Bill of Rights be legally amended with other Amendments?

  • YES - anything in the Constitution is subject to the Amendment process.

    Votes: 37 86.0%
  • NO - you cannot amend anything which changes any provision in the Bill of Rights

    Votes: 6 14.0%

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .

haymarket

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Yesterday, I heard an argument that I was not aware of. Basically the individual claimed that one could not legally amend the United States Constitution so that it changed or repealed any of the current Amendments in the first ten - the Bill of Rights.

Here is Article V of the Constitution which has all the language from that document about the amendment process

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.


The specific part of the Constitution in question was the Second Amendment.

It is my contention that there is nothing in the Constitution which would prohibit any amendment changing the Second - or any other Amendment for that matter. Legally, it could be done.

It is my position that politically, it would be impossible to do so at this time and there simply is not any political will to do this.

Putting aside the already mentioned practical political considerations making it impossible to actually get such an amendment passed, is it legally possible to amend the Constitution changing or outright repealing anything contained within it including the Second or any other existing Amendment?
 
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Yesterday, I heard an argument that I was not aware of. Basically the individual claimed that one could not legally amend the United States Constitution so that it changed or repealed any of the current Amendments in the first ten - the Bill of Rights.

Here is Article V of the Constitution which has all the language from that document about the amendment process

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.


The specific part of the Constitution in question was the Second Amendment.

It is my contention that there is nothing in the Constitution which would prohibit any amendment changing the Second - or any other Amendment for that matter. Legally, it could be done.

It is my position that politically, it would be impossible to do so at this time and there simply is not any political will to do this.

Putting aside the already mentioned practical political considerations making it impossible to actually get such an amendment passed, is it legally possible to amend the Constitution changing or outright repealing anything contained within it including the Second or any other existing Amendment?

You forget that the 2 amendment was said could not be infringed it is the only one that says it could not be infringed all the others are free game to admendment except this one .
 
You forget that the 2 amendment was said could not be infringed it is the only one that says it could not be infringed all the others are free game to admendment except this one .

But if the right is removed through the legal process of Amendment, there is then nothing to be infringed upon. And what in the Constitution as it applies to the Amendment process would prohibit that? We already changed the specific content of an Amendment before and outright repealed it. One could make the same argument that would have rendered the effort to repeal the 18th impossible legally. One could have argued that any future amendment could not change the language which exists because that existing amendment legally allows for something you are trying to prohibit and thus could not be done. Its a circular argument that is a fallacy.
 
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But if the right is removed through the legal process of Amendment, there is then nothing to be infringed upon.


So if the goverment can do that then isent our other rights in total jepordy is that what you want .... so sorry cant talk bad about the goverment thet took that right away . Although that is a verry intresting point and I think you are right but do you really think that would happen . It says it can not be infringed but taken it awat would be infringing that right .
 
Yes, they can be amended. But amending the Constitution is VERY difficult, as it should be. And amending one of the first 10 would be damn near impossible. Instead those rights will be eroded through more subtle means.
 
Yes, they can be amended. But amending the Constitution is VERY difficult, as it should be. And amending one of the first 10 would be damn near impossible. Instead those rights will be eroded through more subtle means.

Reminds me when they out lawed alchocol the only part of the constation to be eradicated and that took years to do even though everyone and their mother disliked and objected this and it wasent even in the bill of rights
 
Yesterday, I heard an argument that I was not aware of. Basically the individual claimed that one could not legally amend the United States Constitution so that it changed or repealed any of the current Amendments in the first ten - the Bill of Rights.

Here is Article V of the Constitution which has all the language from that document about the amendment process

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.


The specific part of the Constitution in question was the Second Amendment.

It is my contention that there is nothing in the Constitution which would prohibit any amendment changing the Second - or any other Amendment for that matter. Legally, it could be done.

It is my position that politically, it would be impossible to do so at this time and there simply is not any political will to do this.

Putting aside the already mentioned practical political considerations making it impossible to actually get such an amendment passed, is it legally possible to amend the Constitution changing or outright repealing anything contained within it including the Second or any other existing Amendment?

The Bill of Rights was added to get enough states to approve the constitution as they wanted guarentees as to not have an over reaching central government. The constitution would have never been approved without them. From what I read the framers and the approving states thought these first ten amendments were set in stone. But most of them have been eroded over time.

But I suppose they could be changed or deleted through the amendment process as no where in the constitution does it states they can't. Although this would not be part of the original intent by those who wroted, added and approved the constitution way back then.,
 
Any of the amendments can be amended; in fact, the Constitution specifically indicates the only sections that cannot be changed. To date, only the 10th amendment has been informally repealed.
 
Anything in the Consittution can be Amended if the procedure is followed. Heck they could write a complete new one if desired but I don't think anyone wants to see what that would look like.
 
So if the goverment can do that then isent our other rights in total jepordy is that what you want .... so sorry cant talk bad about the goverment thet took that right away . Although that is a verry intresting point and I think you are right but do you really think that would happen . It says it can not be infringed but taken it awat would be infringing that right .

No - I do not want that to happen. I do not advocate such an amendment. I would not support such and amendment. I would oppose such an amendment.

I am only posing the question if it were a legal possibility.
 
Yes, of course any of the bill of rights could be amended through the amendment process.
 
Legally permissible but politically impossible. Not that it matters, since our legislature has no respect for our Constitution and our judiciary has no courage to enforce it.
 
And now we see the discussions start about repealing the 2nd amendment, despite gun control folks trying to convince us that they aren't really interested in taking away the right to own a gun.
 
Honestly, I don't know. However, it seems to me the Bill of Rights are used as the foundation of many of our statutes, and Supreme Court decisions. If any of the Bill of Rights were amended, it would likely pull the rug from under those decisions.
 
Yesterday, I heard an argument that I was not aware of. Basically the individual claimed that one could not legally amend the United States Constitution so that it changed or repealed any of the current Amendments in the first ten - the Bill of Rights.

Here is Article V of the Constitution which has all the language from that document about the amendment process

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.


The specific part of the Constitution in question was the Second Amendment.

It is my contention that there is nothing in the Constitution which would prohibit any amendment changing the Second - or any other Amendment for that matter. Legally, it could be done.

It is my position that politically, it would be impossible to do so at this time and there simply is not any political will to do this.

Putting aside the already mentioned practical political considerations making it impossible to actually get such an amendment passed, is it legally possible to amend the Constitution changing or outright repealing anything contained within it including the Second or any other existing Amendment?





It can be done.

But it will not be done in the near future.
 
The entire Constitution can be amended. Every letter, every sentence.
 
And now we see the discussions start about repealing the 2nd amendment, despite gun control folks trying to convince us that they aren't really interested in taking away the right to own a gun.

If I find you someone who think Muslims should be kicked out of the country, does that mean conservatives want to repeal the 1st amendment?
 
Legally permissible but politically impossible. Not that it matters, since our legislature has no respect for our Constitution and our judiciary has no courage to enforce it.

It's not that the judiciary lacks the courage to enforce it, but that they lack the desire to enforce it.
 
Of course the Bill of Rights can be amended. Why would it be any different from any other part of the constitution? Parts of it should be amended. The fourth amendment in particular needs a lot of strengthening. The third is rather useless. It's a cure for a problem that basically never happens. I would definitely like the second amendment edited into more clear language. If the whole point of it is personal protection, then why bother having the regulated militia bit? That part, like the third, are relics left from the 1790s that have little bearing on our existence today. And if the militias ARE the central right of the second amendment, that needs to be made much more clear. I'd also like the first amendment to define exactly what "the press" is, including exactly what they do, who they are, and to whom do they answer, and offer those protections based on modern society, not on 230 year old societies, where a blogger or a site like this is arguably more important than the drivel on TV news. And we should extend the first amendment beyond protecting mere religion, but likewise protecting schools of thought that aren't based gods or myths or angels or whatever. The First amendment should be amended to include the freedom to have no religion and be just as protected. There are many issues within the constitution that could stand some revision.
 
As of now, I don't think there is a single amendment that han't been modified, overridden or in other ways changed from the original simple language. They couldn't even pass the ERA so the chances of an unpopular mega-shift are pretty low.
 
Can you legally Amend the Bill of Rights?

No, I cannot. The procedure for amending the Constitution is quoted in the OP, it takes much more than just one person to do it. Neither I, nor anyone else can unilaterally amend the Constitution, legally or otherwise.
 
No, I cannot. The procedure for amending the Constitution is quoted in the OP, it takes much more than just one person to do it. Neither I, nor anyone else can unilaterally amend the Constitution, legally or otherwise.

The term YOU in the OP and question is a collective YOU referring to the nation and its people.
 
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