The Founders Pointed to Article V as a Cure for Federal Abuse
I recently came across one of those silly websites in which a writer largely ignorant of the Constitution’s background purports to lecture us about it. […]
Articles by Rob Natelson
Comparing an Article V Convention to a National Party Convention is Absurd
This article first appeared at the Independence Institute Constitutional Studies website. Some alarmists are comparing an Article V convention to the Republican and Democratic National […]
Journal Now Available from the Latest Convention of States
The latest of a long line of conventions of states was held in September 12-15, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. It was called by the Arizona […]
Missouri court gets it right on constitutional amendment law
This article originally appeared in The Hill on July 17, 2018. Amid all the false claims distributed about the Constitution’s amendment-convention process, it is refreshing […]
A New Theory Supporting The Use of the Tenth Amendment to Control the Article V Process—and Why the Theory Doesn’t Work
The state legislative power to issue binding applications for an amendments convention derives either directly from the Constitution (Article V) or from authority retained (“reserved”) by the states under the Tenth Amendment. Which is it?
A lot hinges on the question. One thing that does is the legal validity of the “Compact for America” approach. The […]
What is an Amendments Convention “Application?” What is a “Call?”
Article V of the Constitution states that “The Congress . . . on Applications of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments.”
As I pointed out in my book, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant, 18th century writers were imbued heavily with Latin language […]