<P> The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote . </P> <P> Article Five specifies the means by which the Constitution of the United States can be amended . It ends by temporarily shielding three Article I clauses from being amended . This clause is among them . (The others are first and fourth clauses in Section 9 .) Article Five provides that "no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate". Thus, no individual state may have its individual representation in the Senate adjusted without its consent . That is to say, an amendment that changed this clause to provide that all states would get only one Senator (or three Senators, or any other number) could become valid as part of the Constitution if ratified by three - fourths of the states; however, one that provided for some basis of representation other than strict numerical equality (for example, population, wealth, or land area), would require the unanimous consent of all the states . </P> <P> Denying the states their intended role as joint partners in the federal government by abolishing their equality in the Senate would, according to Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase (in Texas v. White), destroy the grounding of the Union . This Article V provision has been employed by those opposed to contemplated constitutional amendments that would grant the District of Columbia full representation in the Congress without also granting it statehood . Their argument is that an amendment that would allow a non-state district to have two Senators would deprive the states of their equal suffrage in the Senate and would therefore require unanimous ratification by all the states . Whether unanimous consent of the 50 states would be required for such an amendment to become operative remains an unanswered political question . </P> <P> Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes . The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies . </P>

What qualifications must judges have according to the constitution