Washington - The Constitution was written "to endure for ages to come" Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in the early 1800s.

To ensure it would last, the framers made amending the document a difficult task. That difficulty was underscored recently when supporters of congressional term limits and a balanced budget amendment fell short in their bids to change it.

The Constitution is a basic framework for who we are politically, " said Northwestern University law professor Daniel Polsby.

Even when there are real problems to be resolved, "To win the argument that they are to be addressed as constitutional amendments takes something a little bit special, " he said in an interview.

Stanford University law professor Kathleen Sullivan says Congress lately is suffering from "constitutional amendment fever".

In an essay to be published as part of The New Federalist Papers , she argues that some recent proposed amendments pursue short-term policy aims that do not belong in the Constitution.

Among them, she cites the term-limits amendment defeated this month by the House and the balanced-budget proposal, which is being delayed for lack of Republican votes in the House.

But an amendment to outlaw flag burning may be gathering steam, and President Clinton has endorsed the idea of a crime victims' rights amendment. Other amendment proposals in the congressional hopper would allow voluntary school prayer, make English the country's official language and abolish the Electoral College.

The Constitution has been amended only 27 times since it was drafted in 1787, including the first 10 amendments adopted four years later as the Bill of Rights.

Among amendments adopted this century are those that gave women the right to vote, enacted and repealed Prohibition, abolished poll taxes and lowered the minimum voting age to 18.

The amendment process is cumbersome: A proposed amendment must be passed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, then ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. Or two-thirds of the state legislatures could ask Congress to call a constitutional convention.

That has never happened, but the idea has its backers. A retired federal judge, Malcolm R. Wilkey, called a few years ago for a new convention. The Constitution "has been corrupted by the system" which has led to gridlock, too much influence by interest groups, and embers of Congress who focus excessively on getting re-elected, Wilkey said in a published series of lectures.

But Richard C. Leone, president of the New York-based Twentieth Century Fund, a nonpartisan research group, says recent efforts to amend the Constitution go too far.

"I think we're overreacting" to some people's dissatisfaction with the government, Leone said. His organization hopes to balance the argument by publishing The New Federalist Papers, taking the name from the original Federalist Papers, which were written to promote ratification of the Constitution.

Polsby, the Northwestern law professor, said the number of proposed amendments is not uncommon. But he agreed that political fixes do not necessarily belong in the Constitution - with Prohibition being the prime example.

The proposed crime victim rights amendment falls in the same category, he contends. Giving crime victims a right to be notified of judicial proceedings and to be heard at such proceedings should be decided on the local level, Polsby said.

"It makes no sense at all to put into the Constitution transient particularities of current public policy, "g he said. Wilkey, in arguing for a new constitutional convention, notes that the Founders realized future generations might want to try writing a new document.
They did not view their work as perfect and would be astounded to see how well it has borne the test of time and the few changes which have been made in it," he said.