Newly-Published Ratification Documents Confirm Our Conclusions on the Amendment Process
The Wisconsin Historical Society publishes successive volumes of the Documentary History of the Constitution of the United States. As its name indicates, the Documentary History is a multi-volume set of books containing documents from the debates over the Constitution’s ratification. The Wisconsin Historical Society published fairly recently two volumes from the debates in Maryland. There […]
Book Review: Stealing America: What My Experience with Criminal Gangs Taught Me About Obama, Hillary, and the Democratic Party
I expected this book, written by Dinesh D’Souza and published by Broadside Books, to be bitter. For one thing, the title conveys bitterness. And Dinesh D’Souza has reason to be bitter: A first offender, he had been threatened with prison and then sentenced to confinement for an offense usually not even prosecuted: two misreported […]
Is the “Compact for America” Plan to Amend the Constitution Constitutional? Unfortunately not.
II’s Article V Information Center has just issued a law report concluding that the “Compact for America” approach to amending the Constitution is, unfortunately, almost wholly unconstitutional.
What is an Amendments Convention “Application?” What is a “Call?”
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.”
Latest Update on Applications for a Convention for Proposing Amendments
Georgia Lawyer and Article V expert Dave Guldenschuh has just issued his latest update on Article V amendment activity around the country. You can retrieve it here.
When They Start Throwing Black’s Law Dictionary at You—Duck!
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 […]
How Liberal Propagandists Fooled Conservatives into Opposing an Amendments Convention
This article originally appeared at CNS News. Some conservative groups have become known for uncompromising opposition to the Constitution’s convention method of proposing constitutional amendments. They may think they are protecting the republic. But it turns out that they are mostly carrying water for the liberal establishment. New research shows that nearly all the arguments […]
How Do We Know an Article V Amendments Convention is a “Convention of the States?” Because Both the Founders and the Supreme Court Said So
Article V of the Constitution authorizes a “Convention for proposing Amendments.” However, it does did not specify how the convention is to be composed. People unfamiliar with constitutional history sometimes claim the makeup of an amendments convention is either a complete mystery or subject to the determination of Congress. Nonsense. For one thing, the Supreme […]
A Response to the “Runaway Scenario”
NOTE: This is an updated version of an essay first published in 2013. For a comprehensive treatment of amendment law, see The Law of Article V: State Initiation of Constitutional Amendments and postings at the Article V Information Center website. Many lawmakers and activists, and most of the public, now favor a constitutional amendment to […]
