First-Ever Legal Treatise On the Constitution’s Amendment Process!
Independence Institute Senior Fellow Rob Natelson has written the first legal treatise covering constitutional amendment law. The work, published by Apis Books, focuses on the […]
balanced budget amendment
Are recent “rescissions” of Article V applications valid?
Many recent state legislative Article V rescissions suffer from defects the courts call “material mistakes.” A material mistake can void some legal documents. Article V […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Impending “Convention for Proposing Amendments” — Part II
Note: This series of six articles originally appeared in the Washington Post’s “Volokh Conspiracy,” a leading constitutional law website. Part I appears below, and Parts […]