Lunch with the League: Amending the U.S. Constitution

A senior lecturer at the University of Tennessee will discuss the process of amending the U.S. Constitution during a lunchtime meeting in Oak Ridge on Tuesday.

Theodore Brown Jr., a senior lecturer in UT’s Department of Political Science, will be the guest speaker at Lunch with the League on Tuesday, May 19. The program starts at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The Constitution of the United States was ratified on June 21, 1788. In the 227 years since then, there have been thousands of proposals to amend the Constitution, but only 33 obtained the necessary two-thirds vote in Congress and only 27 (including the Bill of Rights) have been ratified, a press release said. Amendments can also be proposed by constitutional conventions called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures.

Brown will discuss and clarify issues surrounding the state-initiated process of amending the Constitution, the release said. His presentation will set the stage for a nationwide study of the amendment process by the League of Women Voters.

Brown has taught constitutional law, judicial process, law in American society, and Tennessee government and politics, and he serves as adjunct professor of law in American legal history at the University of Tennessee’s College of Law. He served as a faculty fellow at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy (2010-2014) and as editor of The Baker Center Journal of Applied Public Policy (2011-2012), the release said.

Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, Lunch with the League is open to the public. There is no cost to attend and reservations are not needed. Box lunches will be available starting at 11:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis for $8, or you may bring your own. Coffee and tea are provided.

The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization that encourages informed and active participation in government and works to increase understanding of public policy through unbiased studies of public issues. Membership is open to both men and women. For more information, visit lwvoakridge.org.