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Constitutional amendment

The term constitutional amendment usually refers to a special procedure by which a constitution may be altered.

A constitution, particularly when it is written document, is often entrenched in some way, thus preventing from being changed by the expedient legislative process used for all other rulemaking. This entrenching may take the form of special second order rules within the constitution specifying the process for changing it — for example, requiring a particular portion of the membership to be given timely notice with an opportunity to vote on the change, not merely by a vote of the governing body; or the governing body may need a qualified (e.g. two-thirds) majority in order to pass the amendment.

The technicalities of amending a constitution vary; some examples follow.