QUICK SHEET · CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERATED REPUBLIC
Amendments & Direct Democracy
How the people legislate directly, and how the document rewrites itself — with thresholds that climb as the change grows more permanent, some provisions entrenched against easy amendment, and one limit no amendment can ever cross.
Article XIII · §13.1–§13.2
Article XVII · §17.1–§17.4
Article XVII · §17.1–§17.4
The People Legislate Directly — §13.1, §13.2
Optional Referendum
§13.1 · Repeal an enacted law
Two petition phases (State-distributed, then 5% national), then a vote: simple majority repeals, subject to a 30–50% turnout floor set by statute. Off-limits: laws expanding an Article I right, budget laws, constitutionally mandated obligations. A failed referendum can't be re-run on the same grounds.
Citizen Initiative
§13.2 · Propose a new law
Two phases (State-distributed, then 10% national). The Legislature must vote within 90 days; if it refuses or fails, the proposal goes to the people — passing at 60% with ≥50% participation. The chamber can't quietly bury a qualified proposal by ignoring it.
Three Ways to Amend — Thresholds Climb With Permanence — §17.1
Parliamentary · State Ratify
Legislature + States
2/3 · 2/3
2/3 of the full seated membership of both chambers, then ratification by 2/3 of States within the statutory period.
Parliamentary · Popular Ratify
Legislature + the People
2/3 → 2/3
2/3 of both chambers, then a national referendum at 2/3 affirmative, ≥55% participation within 180 days.
Citizen Initiative
The People Alone
15% → 70%
Petition to 15% national, then straight to referendum with no legislative or executive gate — passing at 70% with ≥65% participation. Miss the floor and it's barred 5 years.
What's Entrenched, and the Line No Amendment Crosses — §17.1, §17.3
Entrenched Provisions §17.1
Some provisions can't be changed by the States alone — amending them requires Popular Ratification regardless of origin: the Monitor selection, independence, mandate, and funding guarantees (§9.1–§9.4, §9.6), the NRS architecture (§10.1), and the Elections Panel / NRS Panel independence (§11.1). The watchdogs and the public record can't be quietly weakened by an inter-State deal — the people themselves must consent.
The Unamendable Core §17.3
No amendment — however large its majority — may extinguish a §1.19.a non-derogable right. Any amendment purporting to do so is void to the extent of the extinguishment, and the SC must so rule. An amendment that meets its thresholds otherwise can't be refused, and takes only prospective effect. The JM publishes a consistency analysis of every amendment — advisory, but a permanent record of exactly what changed.
Numbers Worth Remembering
0
executive role in amendments — no signature, no veto (§17.2). Consuls are absent from the process entirely.
2
amendments may run at once; if both pass, the later-ratified prevails on conflict (§17.3).
70%
the ceiling: citizen-initiated amendment passage, ≥65% participation — the hardest bar in the document.
§17.4
supremacy — every act, order, treaty, and decision must conform; anything inconsistent is void.