[Political Junkie Too]

What is the mechanism for the Congress to call for the convention? Under whose authority is the call issued?

I assume that it's not by vote, because a vote can fail.

So how, exactly is a Convention called by Congress?

-PJ

[Publius]

Congress issues a Joint Congressional Resolution calling the convention. The convention "call" consists of naming a date, place and subject matter. The subject matter is extracted from the petitions from the states that finally exceeded the two-thirds threshold. Joint Congressional Resolutions can't be filibustered.

There will certainly be voices in Congress questioning whether Congress can refuse to call a convention. Hamilton's language in Federalist #85 is peremptory, however. Congress has no discretion in the matter. It must call.

The optics of refusing to call a convention when properly requested by the states would be suicidal for Congress, so they'll call the convention.