CONSTITUTION - Article V Archives - Independence Institute

Drafting a Balanced Budget Amendment: It’s tougher than you might think 0
- July 21, 2017
Of course, it is one thing to criticize, but another to try to craft something better.
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The last convention of states ever held? It Centered on the Upper Colorado River 0
- June 29, 2017
“This latest convention of states operated according to standard convention of states protocols.”
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Fake News: How Leading Liberal Newspapers Spread the “Runaway Convention” Story 0
- June 11, 2017
Although there were scattered antecedents, “runaway convention” claims and certain associated myths were first distributed widely during the 1960s and 1970s. In a previous Article V Information Center study, I documented how those stories were publicized by leading opinion-molders in the national liberal establishment. Their goal was to disable the Article V convention process to
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The Convention of States in American History 0
- June 1, 2017
In this short essay, constitutional historian Rob Natelson thumbnails the three-centuries long history of “conventions of the states.” When delegations from the states assemble in Phoenix, Arizona later this year, they will be basking in a long and rich American tradition. As far back as 1677, British colonies in North America sent “commissioners” (delegates) to
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Convention Rules for a Convention of the States 0
- May 28, 2017
The convention of the states meeting in Phoenix, Arizona in September will need a set of rules. Moreover, that convention will be engaged in further rule-writing because the Arizona Legislature called it partly to suggest rules for a prospective Article V Convention for Proposing Amendments. I suggest the planners start with the Model Rules provided
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How Progressives Promoted the “Runaway Convention” Myth To Protect the “Warren Court’s” Judicial Activism 0
- May 21, 2017
You may have heard alarms that if we hold a national convention for proposing constitutional amendments the gathering would be an uncontrollable constitutional convention (“con-con”) that could propose anything at all. The claim is called the “runaway scenario.” It has almost no basis in history or law. But it has long frightened Americans away from
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