A constitutional amendment is a formal change to the text of a constitution. In the United States, there are two ways an amendment may be introduced: by Congress; or by a convention to propose amendments called at the request of two-thirds of the State legislatures (this method has been used only once in American history, with the 1933 ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment).
When an amendment is passed by Congress and ratified by the States, it becomes part of the constitution. The Constitution does not specify what happens to unused amendments or those that are no longer desirable. Some states, however, have adopted laws providing for the deletion or revival of discarded articles.
In the past, a graduate student discovered an old proposal for an equal rights amendment, and began to spearhead its ratification efforts. This is an interesting case study and a good example of the way an individual can use his or her own initiative to revive an otherwise dead constitutional amendment.
The Supreme Court has made a number of rulings regarding the procedure for proposing and ratifying amendments. For example, it held in Dillon v. Gloss (1921) that a State could not require the popular referendum procedure when Congress had specified a requirement of ratification by state legislatures, and it further held in Hawke v. Smith (1920) that a State could not impose additional requirements that prevented the legislatures of other States from ratifying amendments submitted to them for action by Congress.
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