Rock the American Government CLEP 2026 – Ace Your Way to Success!

The term for the process of formally amending the United States Constitution is ratification. This process is described in Article V of the Constitution, which outlines how amendments can be proposed and subsequently ratified.

When an amendment is proposed, it must garner support either from two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate or through a national convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Following that, the proposed amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures or by conventions in three-fourths of the states. This rigorous process reflects the framers' intent to ensure that amendments represent a significant consensus among both the federal and state levels of governance.

The other options do not pertain to the formal amendment process of the Constitution. Judicial review refers to the power of courts to declare legislative and executive actions unconstitutional but does not involve the amendment process. An executive order is a directive issued by the President to manage the operations of the federal government and also does not involve amending the Constitution. A constitutional convention is a gathering for the purpose of creating or revising a constitution but, in the context of the U.S. Constitution, does not directly describe the formal amendment process as defined by Article V. Thus, ratification