Constitutions are the source of the fundamental law of a political community, setting up basic structures, rules and rights. They are the foundation of statutory law (which are the “regular” laws of a community), while they simultaneously supersede those statutes.

In Virginia, constitutional amendments begin their life in the legislature. Delegates or state Senators propose an amendment resolution; if passed in two different sessions, the amendment is put before voters in a fall election as a referendum. But legislators have taken different approaches to making this process work. In 2020, for example, voters were faced […]

There are typically two different methods of amending constitutions, with tradeoffs involved in each method.

A few years ago, I had what I thought was a simple question: how many times has Virginia’s constitution been amended since its 1971 revision?