Are recent “rescissions” of Article V applications valid?
“The preambles of seven of the nine rescissions show they were based on material mistakes of law and fact.
Missouri court gets it right on constitutional amendment law
“The courts have a long record of applying constitutional amendment law accurately and fairly.”
New Study: only one state away from a convention to propose a balanced budget amendment
The Constitution says that “on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, [Congress] shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments.” However, there has been relatively little credible research into what “the Application of . . . two thirds” means. Most scholars who have investigated the issue agree that applications must […]
New information on the Constitution’s ratification — Part I: South Carolina
. . . if you want to apply the Founders’ own rules of interpretation to the Constitution, the understanding of the ratifiers is most important.
Unconstitutional? Extra-Constitutional? What’s the difference?
An extra-constitutional action may be legal or illegal.
Is Federal Infrastructure Spending Unconstitutional?
So what was the understanding in 1787-90? I have pieced this together over many years. In a nutshell, here it is:
How the False Stories Against An Amendments Convention Got Started
Opponents then — like their successors today — claimed they were protecting the Constitution. But what they actually were (and are) doing is protecting judges and politicians who abuse their positions by changing constitutional rules without following the normal democratic process.
Responding to Fears of an Amendments Convention
Of course, the political establishment doesn’t want you to exercise this constitutional right. So they use the same tactics vote-suppressors use: disinformation and fear.
Correcting Hillary Clinton’s Misconceptions About Those Favoring An Amendments Convention
None of the amendment campaigns . . . favors the open-ended convention needed for radical change. All of their model legislative applications severely limit the convention’s scope.
Where the Constitution’s Word “Convention” Came From
Fortunately, by the time the Constitution was written, this verbal confusion had been pretty much been sorted out.
What Does the Founding Era Evidence Say About How Presidential Electors Must Vote? – 5th in a Series on the Electoral College
Comments from [the ratification] debates generally show that the ratifiers understood presidential electors were to exercise their own judgment when voting.
Why Did the Framers Create the Electoral College?—1st in a Series
The delegates . . . found the question of how to choose the federal executive one of the most perplexing they faced. People who want to abolish the Electoral College usually are unfamiliar with how perplexing the issue was—and still is.
