Constitution Threatened by New Constitutional Convention Initiative

HT: Ohio Freedom Alliance

Constitution Threatened by New Constitutional Convention Initiative; JBS.Org

A new constitutional convention (Con-Con) initiative, "the Bill of Federalism Project," has been announced on a new website, http://www.federalismamendment.com, which was established by Michael Patrick Leahy on behalf of Professor Randy Barnett's Bill of Federalism proposal.

For those of you who have not followed the Con-Con battles of the past three decades, the basic problem with Congress calling a constitutional convention at the request of 34 or more states in accordance with Article V of the Constitution is that leading constitutional scholars and judges have pointed out that the agenda of such a constitutional convention could not be specified by the state legislatures who would have started the whole process in motion in the first place. In brief, a constitutional convention could become a "runaway" convention similar to our original Constitution Convention in 1787 and come up with a radically new constitution, not just a few specific amendments. Even Article V's additional requirement that three fourths of the states must ratify any amendments emanating from a constitutional convention is not sufficient safeguard against a runaway convention given the biased media and political elites that would be involved in the whole process.

Comment: As I have said often, let's start with the repeal of the 17th Amendment, then move on to the 16th and see what happens before jumping head first into a potential whirlpool.