Amending the Constitution is a difficult and complicated process. A two-thirds vote of approval in both Houses is required to formally propose an Amendment, which must then be ratified by ¾ of the States’ legislatures.

The only other method of amending the Constitution requires that a national Constitutional Convention be called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the States. This option has obviously never been used.

Amendments are the most clear-cut way to change the meaning of the Constitution but informal methods such as Judicial Review and Legislative Acts are utilized more often. They are by far the easiest way to alter the meaning or the intent of the Constitution.

There are two informal ways in which the meaning of the Constitution has been changed. The first is Judicial Review: a noble concept which allows the Judicial Branch of government to determine the Constitutionality of any law, or its interpretation. Judicial Review was used in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education, when the right of Equal Protection was challenged under the then current Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling. This re-interpretation of the Constitution led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a reversal of the Plessy ruling and the evil doctrine of ‘Separate but Equal.’

Another informal means is through Presidential Action. George W. Bush issued a Presidential Action when he created the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Informal ways to change the meaning or interpretation of the Constitution are much easier than the complicated and arduous formal method of creating Amendments.