Replies

The founders would’ve been shooting by now.

I managed to capture a copy of the 1973 ABA Report on an Amendments Convention, which is the correct term, not "constitutional convention". (Credit goes to Judge Andrew Napolitano for setting me straight on that.) The ABA Report identifies what we know about an Amendments Convention, and it identifies gray areas that Congress needs to regulate to avoid a runaway situation. One of these days, I'll format the 27 pages for HTML and post it at FR.

The American Legislative Exchange Council has produced a fine document by Rob Natelson as a handbook for state legislators interested in petitioning Congress for an Amendments Convention. I have that as a beautiful color Adobe document that is too good to break down for HTML. The Council does in fact have a link to that document.

Natelson's work is outstanding, and he has 90% of it right. But he did not appear to read the 1973 ABA Report, which is he has 10% of it wrong.

There are good reference works for this topic which should assuage the fears of those who think that an Amendments Convention could simply start over again with a new constitution.

If I ever get my Professor Publius website up, I intend to sell MP3 versions of lectures on constitutional topics, and one of them will be a lecture laying out all the angles on an Amendments Convention, to include the ABA Report and Natelson's paper, developing the differences between them and the legal aspects.

***The founders would’ve been shooting by now***

I told my son some time ago: in many ways, King George didn't treat us this badly! Good grief! The Boston Tea Party was over a 1% tax! Who wouldn't cheer a 1% tax today!!!