Ernest Istook: “Certainly. The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, understood there could be some problems that would require somebody…”

“Certainly. The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, understood there could be some problems that would require somebody who misinterpreted the Constitution, as the Supreme Court has done. So they created within the Constitution a mechanism which is a constitutional amendment, which has been used a couple dozen times in this country; and it is a very straightforward mechanism. There is an alternate one with conventions. But basically it says, two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate approve a constitutional amendment. Then it goes to the States for ratification. Three-fourths of the States must ratify that amendment. Now, they do not need a two-thirds vote in each of those States. They only need a simple majority. But it is done through the legislatures. We notice there is no official role of the President or of the governors of the State. It is done by the House and the Senate of the Congress, and then it goes to the State legislature for the Houses and Senates and Assemblies, as they are called, in the various States. That is the process. That is the process we are following with the religious freedom amendment.”