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To: Reily; Jacquerie
Dirksen's effort to get an Article V Convention of the States to convene to reverse Reynolds v. Sims managed to get 32 states on board by 1967. At that point, all hell broke loose in the Senate.

Sen. Millard Tydings (D-MD) stated that the legislatures that had applied for this convention were themselves malapportioned, and thus Congress could safely ignore the applications and refuse to call the convention. (Tydings later went to prison.) Sen. Charles Percy's (R-IL) argument was a bit more tightly argued but also aimed at Congress refusing to call the convention. Dirksen quoted the clear language of Article V and Hamilton's statement in Federalist #85 that Congress had no discretion in the matter, and Congress needed to establish some ground rules for how the convention was to function.

In 1969, Dirksen died of emphysema due to his 4-pack-a-day habit, the habit that gave him his distinctive voice. The wind then went out of the sails of the movement. I think most states that applied for this convention have since rescinded their applications.

58 posted on 05/23/2024 2:04:20 PM PDT by Publius
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To: Publius

Thanks for the information!


59 posted on 05/23/2024 2:16:49 PM PDT by Reily (!!q)
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To: Publius

The states have submitted hundreds of A5 applications to Congress.

Congress will never call a convention.

There is too much money to lose.


63 posted on 05/23/2024 4:05:58 PM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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