A Constitutional Convention? Some Democrats Fear It's Coming.
Source: New York Times
Some Republicans have said that a constitutional convention is overdue. Many Democratic-led states have rescinded their long-ago calls for one, and California will soon consider whether to do the same.
As Republicans prepare to take control of Congress and the White House, among the many scenarios keeping Democrats up at night is an event that many Americans consider a historical relic: a constitutional convention.
The 1787 gathering in Philadelphia to write the Constitution was the one and only time state representatives have convened to work on the document.
But a simple line in the Constitution allows Congress to convene a rewrite session if two-thirds of state legislatures have called for one. The option has never been used, but most states have long-forgotten requests on the books that could be enough to trigger a new constitutional convention, some scholars and politicians believe.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/16/us/a-constitutional-convention-some-democrats-fear-its-coming.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Consolidating power
Walleye
(36,439 posts)shotten99
(677 posts)pnwmom
(109,641 posts)the whole bill of rights, or anything they wanted.
mtasselin
(668 posts)This would turn the whole country over to the billionaires, and with their money, they could and would do whatever they wanted.
Fiendish Thingy
(18,820 posts)It can only propose amendments , which must then be ratified by the regular process.
MarineCombatEngineer
(14,480 posts)requires 2/3rds of the Congress and 3/4th of states approval to ratify it.
Angleae
(4,658 posts)MarineCombatEngineer
(14,480 posts)I stand corrected.
I seriously doubt that there would be 3/4ths of the states ratifying anything at this point.
Fiendish Thingy
(18,820 posts)eallen
(2,975 posts)That should be the only proposal they approve, and the only amendment they ratify.
Karasu
(368 posts)unqualified fascists, and I don't particularly have any desire to contribute any further to a country that enables and empowers them.
The Madcap
(599 posts)Cross the borders before the remaining red country goes absolutely insane. Maybe they should also suggest a reduction in the number of states.
drmeow
(5,332 posts)of whatever country gets California!
JoseBalow
(5,656 posts)William769
(55,883 posts)mwooldri
(10,429 posts)The European Union has an article in its constitution that allows for it. The United States should have a similar mechanism, but be more clearly defined and harder to do than a Brexit.
not fooled
(6,115 posts)they/the remaining one have been plotting and scheming to get a cc for years. Get rid of all of those pesky words having to do with promoting "the general welfare" and all those other commie pinko mistakes the Founding Fathers included in error.
https://billmoyers.com/story/kochs-to-rewrite-constitution/]
Libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch have long opposed federal power and federal spending. Koch Industries is one of the nations biggest polluters and has been sanctioned and fined over and over again by both federal and state authorities. In response, the Kochs have launched a host of limited government advocacy organizations and have created a massive $400 million campaign finance network, fueled by their fortunes and those of their wealthy, right-wing allies, that rivals the two major political parties.
The Kochs Americans for Prosperity says it favors a balanced budget convention. Such an austerity amendment would drastically cut the size of the federal government, threatening critical programs like Social Security and Medicare and eviscerating the governments ability to respond to economic downturns, major disasters and the climate crisis.
AFP has opposed an open convention, calling it problematic. But whatever qualms the Kochs might have, they continue to be a bedrock funder of the entire convention movement.
ancianita
(38,880 posts)These intentions are evident from the enormous resources ALECs funders are devoting to pushing for an Article V convention and from the amendments proposed by the mock conventions they have convened. The most recent of these was the Convention of States (COS) August 2023 mock convention in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, bringing together mostly Republican legislators from 49 states...
Project 2025 seeks to undermine civil rights, demanding an end to energetic enforcement of the rights of people seeking to access abortion clinics (at pp. 557-58) and redirecting the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department to attack diversity programs (at pp. 560-62). COSs Federal Legislative & Executive Jurisdiction Proposal 1 goes even farther, eliminating the constitutional authority for most civil rights laws by sharply restricting Congresss authority to regulate interstate commerce to buying, selling, or transportation of commercial goods and services across state lines. All existing laws and regulations exceeding this authority, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, would be nullified in two years.
The key to preventing a new Republican majority in Congress from calling an Article V convention is to deny them enough state applications to be able to make a credible claim that two-thirds of the states have applied for one, as the Constitution requires. Although the ALEC-allied groups are well short of two-thirds of the states on any honest measure, ALEC and one of the lawyers involved in the 2020 fake electors scheme have been devising exotic legal theories that would allow them to count states old, moot, and unrelated convention calls toward the 34-state threshold.
The Grand Illuminist
(1,700 posts)Support Article V Democrats.
PortTack
(34,840 posts)rpannier
(24,598 posts)I count 28 that are controlled by Republicans.
NH, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, AR, TN,
KY, OH, IN, LA, TX, OK, KS, NE, ND, SD
IA, MT, WY, ID, UT, AK, WI, AZ
valleyrogue
(1,203 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(6,630 posts)The state legislatures should not be allowed to do anything but watch. This is a federal matter, and the states need to stay out of it by letting the people of each state choose their delegates by popular vote ONLY.
But, that is not going to happen, so we will get what they want us to get.
Blue Full Moon
(1,327 posts)They have been waiting and to them it's now. But I don't think that they have states to get it passed yet.
Metaphorical
(2,346 posts)To me, the question should be, "if it happens, what should be the Democratic response?"
The fundamental problem is that the way Article V of the constitution is worded, approval is done by the state legislatures or by a state convention, but it doesn't really identify the mechanism for the latter.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
What this means is that a conservative legislature can ratify the ruling of the convention even if it is not agreed upon by the populace at large. My assumption is that most people, given the opportunity to vote, would likely not vote to ratify anything they see as extremist (such as leaving the union) but the legislature may very well do so (I can see Texas doing it in a heartbeat, for instance). Nor does it provide any indication for how delegates would be chosen for the convention itself, beyond the likelihood of their being 538 such delegates.
If a CC were to be called today, I would assume that it would be Congress that met in a joint session - not ideal for the Democrats, but it would be 217-216 and 53-47 respectively for a total of 270-263 for the Rs, each with very different agendas. Additionally, this is a process to amend the constitution, though this could very well include declaring it null and void, but these would have to be agreed to by 2/3 of congress (roughly 360 delegates), so would require 90 Democrats in addition to all of the Republicans to pass anything.
Expect a provision for secession to be revisited, which would also give a chance to nail down exactly how that would happen and how to ensure that such a transition could occur peacefully (and honestly, I think it SHOULD be in the constitution, just very, very difficult to achieve). Executive authority would also be challenged, but I don't believe Congress would go so far as to cede much more power to the executive branch than they already have (even on the Republican side). I don't see the IRS being defunded or the Fed eliminated, though no doubt an attempt will be made. I think an effort to expand the number of judges on SCOTUS might very well pass. A balanced budget amendment might pass, though I also doubt it will, but a simple clarification that any appropriations bill that is not signed into law would mean that the old budget remains in effect in the following calendar year until superseded may very well pass. Eliminating the Electoral College is likely a non-starter. The filibuster may go the way of the dodo, as would blue card rules and a few other Senatorial enhancements.
In short, with the two possible exceptions of secession and rendering the Constitution null and void (the first might pass, the second won't), I don't see radical change coming out of a CC - IF it was held today. Now, IF there was an overwhelming majority of one party in both houses, this may be a different situation, but the GOP has had as much trouble achieving a large majority as the Democrats.
Second issue - if secession was made legal, which states would go? I assume that, even holding a majority of states, the GOP isn't going to convince a majority of those states to actually leave. However, let's say that FL, the Deep South, and TX left the union, shifting the balance of power considerably over to the Democrats. I don't believe the Midwestern or Plains states would leave the Union either. I would also expect that even with majorities in the assemblies of these states, the likelihood that any of them WOULD leave the union is nil, especially as this would only happen in the case that the amendment to provide a secession mechanism was passed and ratified.
So I think that a constitutional convention would not be the slam dunk rewrite that the most die-hard MAGAts believe it would be. It is, when you get right down to it, a way of fast-tracking amendments.
pbmus
(12,444 posts)Directing traffic and project 25 writing policy
LT Barclay
(2,777 posts)I'm talking to you SCOTUS.
NBachers
(18,197 posts)Straight outta the Hitler playbook
J_William_Ryan
(2,267 posts)Get rid of that pesky 14th Amendment:
No more birthright citizenship.
No more incorporation doctrine applying the Bill of Rights to the states; indeed, get rid of the Bill of Rights altogether.
A new Second Amendment making possession of an assault weapon a fundamental right.
valleyrogue
(1,203 posts)I don't know why articles like this that are basically speculative fiction are considered "news" and people get all riled up about it.