Constitution: Overview, Issues and Interpretations

While exercising its power to review the constitutionality of governmental action, the Supreme Court has relied on certain 'methods' or 'modes' of interpretation - that is, ways of figuring out a particular meaning of provision within the Constitution. The first chapter or report broadly describes the most common modes of constitutional interpretation. The next chapters herein examine the Speech or Debate Clause of the US Constitution; provides an overview of Congress's power under the Constitution and Congress's role in interpreting the nation's founding document; and discusses contemporary issues for Congress with regards to Article V of the US Constitution, and the two methods by which the nation's founding charter may be amended.