amendment applications

The Silver Lining in the Mistakes at the Assembly of State Legislatures 0
- November 17, 2015
Note: This article was first published in the American Thinker. The Assembly of State Legislatures (ASL) has adjourned from its latest meeting, still without having produced a set of rules for an Article V amendments convention. I have been an enthusiastic supporter of ASL. I have to acknowledge, however, that missteps have impeded its progress.
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Answering Questions About the Voting Rules at a Convention for Proposing Amendments 0
- November 2, 2015
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
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Trying to Alter the Traditional Amendments Convention Voting Rule Is a Mistake 0
- October 27, 2015
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
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Still More Evidence That An Amendments Convention is a "Convention of States"0
- October 15, 2015
The term “convention of states” (or “convention of the states”) dates at least from the year 1780. By 1788 it was being applied specifically to a convention for proposing amendments under the new Constitution. Throughout the 19th century, the phrase “convention of states” was probably the most common way to denominate an Article V convention—even
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How A Famous English Convention Clarifies the Role of a Convention of States 0
- September 26, 2015
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
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Term Limits for the Supreme Court?0
- August 23, 2015
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
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