Formal And Informal Amendment Analysis

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Pages: 2
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Lauren McDermott
A.P. Government
January 21, 2014

Formal and Informal Changes to Constitutional Meaning Since its implementation in 1789, the Constitution has been hailed as one of the most enduring and influential documents in the history of organized government. Its longstanding status as our nation’s supreme law has been accomplished partly because of the document’s unique ability to allow for change. Over the last few centuries, the meaning of the Constitution has been altered by the both formal and informal sources. Changes to this legendary contract can come about in two ways: informal revisement in interpretation of law, or formal establishment of new amendments.
Bringing about formal changes to the Constitution can happen one of two …show more content…
Another more dynamic and malleable method of amendment interpretation is through the process of judicial review. Established during the case of Marbury vs. Madison by John Marshall, this defining principle allows for the judicial branch to use cases to set standards of constitutional interpretation. Through this process, our ideas about government have been worked and reworked since the dawn of the Constitution. In the legendary case of Brown vs. the Board of Education, for example, the prosecution was seeking to overturn segregated schools. The precedent, however, had been established in the longstanding decision of Plessy vs. Ferguson. In this case, the justice system had ruled that under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which prohibited the denial of a citizen’s “equal protection of laws”, that as long as the educational facilities of both races were equal, the separation was constitutional. Through the evidence provided by the Brown prosecutors, however, they were able to establish the demeaning and inferior attitudes developed towards black children through their separate schooling. The courts thus decided to overturn Plessy, declaring that separate education was “inherently unequal” and the dismantling of such schools was put into place. This decision showed not only the fluid and revisable nature of our Constitution’s interpretation, but also the powerful effect judicial review can have on U.S. policy, despite its informal
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