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The foundation contends Congress has only a ceremonial role in approving an Article V convention since the 40 states have already approved it, and the Constitution says Congress "shall" call a convention if two-thirds of the states call for it.

My understand is that 10 states rescinded their applications, and the count is now down to 30. Back when Boehner was Speaker, he sent House legal counsel to the Archivist's office to audit any and all applications for a convention starting with the first two applications from 1789. While the number of applications reached the threshold in the 1970s, I'm not sure that the number today is sufficient to call a convention.

A reading of Hamilton's last Federalist Paper makes it clear that Congress' role is ministerial and ceremonial. Congress must call a convention and has no discretion in the matter. The convention call is Congress simply setting the time and place. Once the states assemble in convention--remember that the convention is the agent of the principals, who are the states--they have sufficient authority under contract law to set up their own rules, providing that they stay within the bounds of the convention call.

I think another audit of the Archivist's spreadsheet is in order to make sure that the number of states applying for this particular convention is correct.