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Amend the U.S. Constitution, Say 27 States

posted by martyb on Friday December 11 2015, @05:50AM   Printer-friendly
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.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Whoever on Friday December 11 2015, @06:31AM

    by Whoever (4524) on Friday December 11 2015, @06:31AM (#274837) Journal

    Balanced Budget? Are they fucking insane?

    No, that's just the lead. The real target will be to gut parts of the bill of rights, starting with the 4th amendment.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by curunir_wolf on Friday December 11 2015, @10:17AM

    by curunir_wolf (4772) on Friday December 11 2015, @10:17AM (#274907)

    The real target will be to gut parts of the bill of rights, starting with the 4th amendment.

    Why would they bother starting with the 4th? It's already ignored and irrelevant anyway.

    --
    I am a crackpot

  • (Score: 2) by mr_mischief on Friday December 11 2015, @03:39PM

    by mr_mischief (4884) on Friday December 11 2015, @03:39PM (#274995)

    More likely they'd start with the 2nd. Maybe they'd hit the sixth, fifth, second, fourth, and first simultaneously.