Note: This is Part I of a six-part series I wrote on Amendment Conventions for the Washington Post’s “Volokh Conspiracy,” a leading constitutional law website. Links have not been reproduced, because all supporting information is on this website and can be found with by word search.
Part I: How Past Conventions Inspired the Constitution’s “Convention for […]
The Impending “Convention for Proposing Amendments” – Part I Read More »
Article V activists have had to deal with the defamatory, and potentially actionable, charge that they are supported by socialist billionaire George Soros.
As far as I can determine, however, no one in the movement has been able to identify any pro-Article V Soros money at all.
On the contrary, Soros-funded groups have repeatedly assailed Article V […]
Soros-Funded Groups Attack the Article V Movement Read More »
Note: This column appeared originally at the American Thinker.
In a recent post, I examined suggestions that a convention of the states for proposing amendments adopt a supermajority rule for proposing any amendment. Most commonly suggested is that the convention replace the traditional “majority of states decides” standard with a two thirds requirement.
I explained that this […]
Answering Questions About the Voting Rules at a Convention for Proposing Amendments Read More »
Note: This article first appeared in The American Thinker.
Advocates of a federal balanced budget amendment are closing in on the 34 states necessary to require Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments. Other groups, such as the Convention of States project, are working assiduously toward the same goal. If they succeed, it will a […]
Trying to Alter the Traditional Amendments Convention Voting Rule Is a Mistake Read More »
Note: This article first appeared on the American Thinker website.
In the Anglo-American constitutional tradition, a “convention” can mean a contract, but the word is more often applied to an assembly, other than a legislature, convened to address ad hoc political problems. The “Convention for proposing Amendments” authorized by Article V of the Constitution is designed […]
How A Famous English Convention Clarifies the Role of a Convention of States Read More »
This article first appeared in the American Thinker.
Term limits are among the reforms being proposed by advocates of curbing federal government abuses through the Constitution’s Article V amendment process.
The idea of congressional term limits has been around for some time. But more recent discussion centers on term limits for the judiciary, especially for the Supreme […]
Term Limits for the Supreme Court? Read More »
Seldom has a claim so weak been so often advanced than the claim that a convention for proposing amendments would be a “constitutional convention” that could “run away”—that is, disregard its limits and propose amendments outside its sphere of authority.
I have little patience with the theory, partly because it is so patently based on ignorance […]
“Runaway Convention” Nonsense—One More Time Read More »
Margaret Mitchell, the author of the hugely popular novel Gone With the Wind, was a newspaper reporter and the child of a family steeped in history. Her father, a prominent Georgia attorney, was one of the leading lights in the state historical society.
That her book has a plethora of references to historical events occurring during […]
A Convention of States in “Gone With the Wind” Read More »
This article was first published on CNS News.
A newly published speech by one of our Framers offers important clues to the constitutional role of the states, of the right to keep and bear arms, and of the amendment process.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton represented Maryland at the Constitutional Convention. After the convention was over, he advocated […]
Wisdom From A Framer on Federalism, Guns, and the Amendment Process Read More »
In a recent post, I pointed out that, despite superficial appearances, the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause—clarifying that Congress has authority to make laws “necessary and proper” to carrying out its other enumerated powers—actually grants Congress no power.
The Necessary and Proper Clause is representative of one of four related kinds of provisions found in 18th […]
The Necessary and Proper Clause Grants Congress No Power Read More »
More evidence has turned up that the late Chief Justice Warren Burger was defending his Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade when he wrote three letters opposing the Article V convention process.
Burger’s letters frequently are cited as authority by opponents of a “convention of states.” However, in an earlier posting I noted that the […]
