Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 (1939) is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which clarified that if the Congress of the United States—when proposing for ratification an amendment to the United States Constitution pursuant to Article V thereof—chooses not to specify a deadline within which the state legislatures (or conventions held in the states) must act upon the proposed amendment, then the amendment remains pending business before the state legislatures (or conventions). 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Congress in Joint Session. ... The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the Constitution may be altered. ... State legislatures are the lawmaking bodies of the 50 states in the United States of America. ... Article V of the United States Constitution establishes the possibility of conventions within the staes to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. ...

According to Coleman, it is none other than the Congress—if and when the Congress should later find itself presented with valid ratifications from the required number of states—which has the discretion to arbitrate the question of whether too much time has elapsed between Congress' initial proposal of the amendment and the most recent state ratification thereof assuming that, as a consequence of that most recent action, the legislatures of (or conventions conducted within) at least three-fourths of the states have approved the amendment at one time or another.

This decision—which modified the 1921 ruling in Dillon v. Gloss—formed the basis of the belated and unusual ratification of the 27th Amendment. Thus far in American history, the 21st Amendment is the only one that was submitted to special ratifying conventions assembled in the states rather than to the state legislatures for ratification. 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... In 1921, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in the case of [256 U.S. 368 (1921)], that if the United States Congress—when proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States—desires to place a deadline on that particular constitutional amendments ratification, that Congress may indeed... Amendment XXVII (the Twenty-seventh Amendment) to the United States Constitution reads: // Background This amendment to the United States Constitution provides that any change in the salary of members of Congress may only take effect after the next general election. ... Amendment XXI (the Twenty-first Amendment) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition. ...

See also

• Child Labor Amendment
• Corwin Amendment