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Amend the U.S. Constitution, Say 27 States

posted by martyb on Friday December 11 2015, @05:50AM   
from the pandora's-box dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

The U.S. Constitution has 27 amendments; each was proposed by Congress and ratified by the states.

However, the Constitution sets forth another procedure, never before used, for amending the Constitution. At the request of two thirds of the states, a constitutional convention would be held, at which amendments could be proposed. Any proposals would become part of the Constitution if three fourths of the states ratified them, either at state conventions or in the state legislatures.

Currently, 27 of the needed 34 states have petitioned Congress for a constitutional convention, for the ostensible purpose of writing a balanced-budget amendment (BBA). However, the convention might propose other changes in addition or instead of a BBA—even a total rewrite of the Constitution—if 38 states agreed, the changes would become law.

In November, legislators from 30 states met in Salt Lake City to discuss the matter.

• Forbes article from 2014 (mirror)
• John Birch Society (has a map)
• utahpolicy.com
• Deseret News
• Yellowhammer News
• The Universe—Brigham Young University
• San Francisco Chronicle
• KSTU-TV
• The Columbian
• Washington Post blog about historical attempts at constitutional conventions
• The Spokesman-Review

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Original Submission

• Re:Its getting close(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday December 12 2015, @05:12PM

  by khallow (3766) on Saturday December 12 2015, @05:12PM (#275446) Journal

  What do any of these concerns have to do with the Constitution? The electorate chooses to allow this to happen. No matter what you cram into another constitution (assuming it's not suborned from the start) that problem still exists. Tighter or more explicit wording doesn't fix the problems that are breaking the current constitution.

  But they will be more difficult to ignore, because even the courts won't be able to lawyer-logic it away.

  Sure, they will. It's only a little harder than breathing. For example, where does it say in the Second Amendment that gun ownership and usage is a collective right but not an individual one (that is, a right that everyone has, but nobody in particular has)? Apparently, someone back in the 19th used some brain cells to come up with that. No one else has since except to occasionally put a little more lipstick on the pig.
  
  Wording doesn't stop tyranny. Division of power stops tyranny. An involved, informed, empowered citizenry stops tyranny.

  Parent