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To: Publius
An Article V Convention of States is NOT a Constitutional Convention.

It's only power is to propose Constitutional Amendments that must be approved by two-thirds of the states.

A convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, also referred to as an Article V Convention, state convention, or amendatory convention is one of two methods authorized by Article Five of the United States Constitution whereby amendments to the United States Constitution may be proposed: two thirds of the State legislatures (that is, 34 of the 50) may call a convention to propose amendments, which become law only after ratification by three-fourths of the states (38 of the 50). The Article V convention method has never been used; but 33 amendments have been proposed by the other method, a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress; and 27 of these have been ratified by three-fourths of the States.

19 posted on 09/15/2023 4:43:36 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is ████ █ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████. FJB.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
This is the usual pedantic boilerplate that I append to these threads. It explains the Article V process for those who don't understand it fully. I've had the verbiage edited for accuracy by a retired professor of constitutional law.

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THE ARTICLE V AMENDATORY PROCESS

The amendatory process under Article V consists of three steps:

  1. Proposal;
  2. Direction;
  3. Ratification.

Proposal:

There are two ways to propose an amendment to the Constitution.

Article V gives Congress and an amendments convention exactly the same power to propose amendments, except that a convention is limited to proposing amendments specified in the application and there is no such limit on Congress.

Direction:

Once Congress, or an amendments convention, proposes amendments, Congress must decide whether the states will ratify by the:

The state ratifying convention method has only been used once: to ratify the 21st Amendment repealing Prohibition. A similar procedure was used to ratify the Constitution itself.

Ratification:

Depending upon which ratification method is chosen by Congress, either the state legislatures vote up-or-down on the proposed amendment, or the voters elect a state ratifying convention to vote up-or-down. If three fourths of the states vote to ratify, the amendment becomes part of the Constitution.

Forbidden Subjects:

Article V contains two explicitly forbidden subjects and two implicitly forbidden subjects.

Explicitly forbidden:

  1. No amendment may be added to the Constitution concerning the slave trade or direct taxes until 1808. We’re well past that deadline.
  2. No amendment may be added to the Constitution to change the principle of equal representation in the Senate unless every state deprived of that right approves. If California wants five senators, every state must have five senators. To permit violation of this principle, every state would have to ratify the amendment, not just three fourths.

Implicitly forbidden:

  1. The Constitution of 1787 may not be abrogated and replaced with a new document. Article V only authorizes “a convention for proposing amendments to this Constitution;” so the Constitution of 1787 is locked in place.
  2. A convention for proposing amendments is limited to the topics authorized by state applications.

Reference work:

Proposing Constitutional Amendments by a Convention of the States: A Handbook for State Lawmakers

25 posted on 09/15/2023 4:47:17 PM PDT by Publius
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
two thirds of the State legislatures (that is, 34 of the 50) may call a convention to propose amendments,

So all you need is one branch of the legislature in 17 states to say no and this option is foreclosed. Does anyone see Newsome's fantasy as a likely outcome?

42 posted on 09/15/2023 5:04:29 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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