Answering the “Runaway Scenario”: Constitutional Whack-a-Mole

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In modern conditions, it is literally impossible for an amendments convention to exceed its authority; the “run away” scenario is […]

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First-Ever Legal Treatise On the Constitution’s Amendment Process!

All Postings, amendment applications, amendments convention, Article 5, article five, Article V Process, Articles, balanced budget, balanced budget amendment, CONSTITUTION, constitutional amendment, constitutional convention, constitutional law, convention for proposing amendments, convention of states, Natelson Rob, necessary and proper clause, Rob Natelson |

Independence Institute Senior Fellow Rob Natelson has written the first legal treatise covering constitutional amendment law. The work, published by

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Are recent “rescissions” of Article V applications valid?

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Many recent state legislative Article V rescissions suffer from defects the courts call “material mistakes.” A material mistake can void

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The Founders Pointed to Article V as a Cure for Federal Abuse

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I recently came across one of those silly websites in which a writer largely ignorant of the Constitution’s background purports

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Comparing an Article V Convention to a National Party Convention is Absurd

All Postings, amendment applications, amendments convention, Article 5, article five, Article V, Article V Process, CONSTITUTION, constitutional amendment, constitutional convention, constitutional law, convention for proposing amendments, convention of states, Natelson Rob, Rob Natelson |

This article first appeared at the Independence Institute Constitutional Studies website. Some alarmists are comparing an Article V convention to

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Journal Now Available from the Latest Convention of States

All Postings, amendments convention, Article 5, article five, Article V, Article V Process, balanced budget, balanced budget amendment, CONSTITUTION, constitutional amendment, constitutional convention, constitutional law, convention for proposing amendments, convention of states, Natelson Rob, Rob Natelson |

The latest of a long line of conventions of states was held in September 12-15, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. It

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Missouri court gets it right on constitutional amendment law

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This article originally appeared in The Hill on July 17, 2018. Amid all the false claims distributed about the Constitution’s

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Newly Rediscovered: The 1889 St. Louis Convention of States

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A frequent argument against a convention for proposing constitutional amendments is that there are “no precedents” for determining the rules

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A New Theory Supporting The Use of the Tenth Amendment to Control the Article V Process—and Why the Theory Doesn’t Work

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The state legislative power to issue binding applications for an amendments convention derives either directly from the Constitution (Article V) or from authority retained (“reserved”) by the states under the Tenth Amendment. Which is it?
A lot hinges on the question. One thing that does is the legal validity of the “Compact for America” approach. The […]

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What is an Amendments Convention “Application?” What is a “Call?”

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Article V of the Constitution states that “The Congress . . . on Applications of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments.”
As I pointed out in my book, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant, 18th century writers were imbued heavily with Latin language […]

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When They Start Throwing Black’s Law Dictionary at You—Duck!

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If you are involved in politics, sooner or later someone will “prove” his point by quoting to you a line from Black’s Law Dictionary, Corpus Juris Secundum, or a similar source. He may tell you that these are “definitive” legal sources, not to be doubted.
Whatever he’s selling, don’t buy it. These sources are not definitive, […]

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The Impending “Convention for Proposing Amendments” – Part I

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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 […]

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