Though we often think of amendments in relation to the US Constitution, any nation or state with a constitution has likely amended the document many times over its history. The state of Alabama developed a constitution in 1901 that they have amended 977 times as of 2022. So a constitution is by no means written in stone and can change literally hundreds of times. But that doesn’t mean every amendment is created equal, and some are downright weird.
10. The Expert Wizard Amendment
The year was 1995 and state senator Duncan Scott had an idea. From thence forth, any psychiatrist or psychologist who was going to testify as an expert witness in a court of law should have to meet one very specific requirement: they would have to dress as a wizard.
The requirements of dressing like a wizard are spelled out in the text of the amendment and indicate, in part, that these witnesses must wear a cone-shaped hat at least two feet tall. The surface of the hat should be imprinted with stars and lightning bolts. They will wear a white beard of at least 18 inches in length. Any important points they make on the stand must be accentuated by stabbing the air with a wand. The bailiff will also be required to dim the lights and bang a Chinese gong.
All of that was spelled out, in very clear English, in the body of an amendment. The amendment went on to be passed unanimously by the New Mexico State Senate. Not a single objection was heard.
Duncan included the amendment as satire because he felt too many experts were being used in trials. The wizard portion was eliminated in the House before the amendment became law, so it’s not on the books. But that doesn’t change the fact the entire Senate let it pass without a word.
9. The 27th Amendment Passed 200 Years Late
The 27th Amendment states, “No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of representatives shall have intervened.” It means lawmakers can’t give themselves a raise until after an election when voters get to have some kind of say. It was proposed in 1789. It became effective in 1992, almost 203 years later.
How did this old, forgotten amendment get resurrected? Thank Gregory Watson. When he was 19, he learned about the amendment for a course in school and wrote a paper on how it could still be ratified. His teacher gave him a C. The academic backhand motivated him to prove that he was right.
Thirty-eight states needed to approve the amendment, but only nine had done so. Watson began writing letters. One Senator from Maine answered him in the affirmative. They did some work on Watson’s behalf and Maine lawmakers passed it in 1983.
States began to all like dominoes after that. Colorado passed it in 1984, five more took it up in 1985, and then each year after more passed it as well. By 1992, after ten years of work, 35 states had passed the amendment and only three more were needed. He got all three that year.
On May 5, 1992, the 27th Amendment passed into law as the Michigan House of Representatives put through the final vote. He still got a C on his paper, but at least he made up for it in a practical way.
8. The Weaponized Tick Amendment
The National Defense Authorization Act is a law that lays out the budget for the Department of Defense on a yearly basis. A new law is passed every year to establish how much money will be spent and on what. Amendments to the law are routinely added on to address whatever pressing concerns lawmakers may have in relation to how the DoD operates.
In the year 2019, an amendment was added to the NDAA that would require the Pentagon to investigate whether or not ticks were weaponized against United States citizens. It’s been alleged that ticks may have been part of a biological weapons program conducted between 1950 and 1975.
New Jersey Representative Chris Smith introduced the amendment and wanted it disclosed whether or not there was such a program, who ran it, were ticks released intentionally or otherwise, and did they infect people with disease.
The Amendment passed the House but, as of 2022, the amendment has never been able to make it through the Senate and the idea has been mostly dismissed by experts as being little more than an unfounded conspiracy theory.
7. The Amendment Amendment
Sometimes laws form a circular loop of logic that makes them seem redundant, nonsensical, or contrary to their own intent. A fine example of this comes from Florida in the year 2006. The state government passed an amendment known as Amendment 3, or the Florida Supermajority Requirement Amendment, that puts the absurdity of lawmaking that sometimes rears its head on full display.
The intent of the amendment was to change how amendments themselves are passed. At that time, an amendment needed 50% of votes plus one to pass. But with the passing of the amendment, it changed the law to require 60% support for any amendment to pass. On the surface, this is not particularly noteworthy.
What does stand out is the fact the amendment was passed into law with a 57% vote. This means that, under the terms the law itself established, it wouldn’t even pass. But, fortunately for those supporting the amendment, it didn’t take effect until immediately after it passed with what, from then on, was not enough of a majority.
6. Luxembourg Amended Their Monarch Out of Power
If you’re afraid odd amendments are only passed in the United States, worry not. This kind of thing happens in democracies all over the world. Just look at what Luxembourg had to do back in 2008.
At that time, the government had been trying to pass a bill about euthanasia. Known as a “right to die” law, the idea was to make it legal for someone who was deemed of sound mind who was suffering from a terminal or incurable and painful disease to be able to voluntarily obtain a physician assisted suicide.
While the government was willing to pass the bill into law, Luxembourg also had a monarchy in place. Their Duke was required to give the final okay to any law, and he refused to sign off on the bill.
Undeterred by their monarch’s reluctance to support their endeavor, the legislature introduced a constitutional amendment that would remove the requirement for royal assent on bills being passed. The amendment passed 56 to zero. This stripped the Duke of any formal duties whatsoever and made him simply a figurehead from then on.
5. The 19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment was a big one for the United States and secured women the right to vote by preventing discrimination on the basis of sex. It was passed into law in 1920, even though it was first introduced in 1878. That means it was a long, hard road to get where it was and clearly it faced a lot of resistance.
In 1919, both the House and the Senate passed the amendment, but it needed to go to the states to be ratified. Twenty-two states ratified it by the end of the year. By June 1920, 35 states had ratified it and only one more was needed to get it through. That fell on Tennessee as every other state had rejected it.
The Senate of Tennessee had approved the amendment, but the House was stuck. The vote came back 48 to 48. It looked like it might end up dying if not for Representative Harry Burn. Or, more accurately, his mother.
Burn was against the amendment, but while the House was still debating the issue, he got a letter from his mother. She encouraged him to vote in favor of ratification and, being a good boy, he did as his mother urged and changed his vote. Ratification was complete and women were legally afforded the right to vote.
4. Switzerland Bans Minarets
Word is that Switzerland is the third happiest country in the world. Wonder what sorts of things concern citizens of the third happiest nation on Earth? Minarets, apparently.
Minarets, if you’re unsure, are usually tall, narrow towers. So we’re talking about architecture here. They’re also a common part of the architecture of mosques. They serve as a visual indicator of where a mosque is since you can see them from a distance, and they also can be a place from which the call to prayer is made. Turns out a majority of the Swiss don’t care for that.
In 2009, the Swiss people voted on a referendum to ban the further construction of minarets in the country. Though polls before the referendum predicted the matter would be squashed, it actually passed with a vote of 57.5%. That meant an amendment would be added to the portion of the Swiss constitution dealing with the relationship between the state and religion. It simply states “the construction of minarets is forbidden.”
The reason behind the ban seemed to be an anti-Muslim sentiment that extended across political boundaries with those on the right condemning what they called the “Islamification” of Switzerland and those on the left who supported the ban citing concern for how women are treated in the religion.
3. Putin’s Bribery Amendment
When it comes to running Russia, Vladimir Putin is the sort of guy who keeps bluntness at the forefront of all he does. For instance, in 2015, he introduced an amendment that altered the country’s criminal code. It reduced the penalties that could be levied against anyone caught giving or receiving a bribe. That’s about as unsubtle as it gets.
Under Russian law, bribery is punished by paying a fine that is based on the bribe. Previously, accepting a bribe meant the offender had to pay back 25 times the amount of the bribe. That was lowered to 10 times. Giving a bribe went from 20 times to 10 times. It was not clear what motivated the change, other than perhaps some sympathy from bribe makers and takers.
2. Canada’s Margarine Amendment
Once upon a time, margarine was not legal in Canada. From 1886 until 1948, in fact. The dairy industry didn’t like that margarine was being colored to look like butter. So buttery margarine was banned outright. During this time, Newfoundland was not officially a Canadian province and, as it turns out, they were running a heck of a bootleg margarine business. Margarine costs half as much as butter, so it was a preferred alternative, especially during wartime or the Depression.
Canada wanted Newfoundland to join the country and the government of Newfoundland agreed, but with stipulations. One of those was that they would not become part of Canada unless they were legally permitted to keep making margarine. The laws were amended to allow for this.
The federal prohibition against margarine was lifted in 1948, but each province still had their own laws in place. Most provinces had laws on the books dealing with the color of margarine for years. Ontario only allowed for the sale of margarine that looked like butter in 1995 while Quebec waited until 2008.
1. The Right to Vote in Australia
We saw how the suffrage movement worked in America, but Australia had its own hurdles. The Adult Suffrage Act passed in 1894 after years of debate. Not only did women get the right to vote but to run for office as well. That was the result of a sabotage that backfired.
Women in Australia had almost no rights to property, or even their own children. Times change, as they do, and the movement for equality gained steam, though many men still held onto some pretty backwards ideals. When the amendment finally made it to a vote, a last ditch effort was made to sabotage it. Conservative opponents tacked on something extra – not only would women have the right to vote, they could run for office. The thinking was that it was so absurd it would lose the vote. Instead, it passed, and the opponents effectively shot themselves in the foot.