Can President Trump call an Article V convention? Do we even need one?

Since former President Donald Trump was reelected on November 5, we have faced many questions about what a second Trump term means for the Convention of States movement to reduce federal power, spending, and terms of office. Here, we examine two of those questions:

1. Can Donald Trump call a convention?

Trump has already surrounded himself with many passionate COS supporters and endorsers, including JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Karoline Leavitt. This presents a tremendous opportunity to have a favorable word in the president’s ear about Convention of States.

But that begs the question: Can Trump call a convention?

No. Per Article V of the Constitution, only state legislators can call an amendments convention. This is key because the Founders intended for the states — not the federal government — to control the Article V convention process from beginning to end. The federal government has its own separate means for amending the Constitution, also outlined in Article V.

Nevertheless, anyone can support the states’ right to call a convention, particularly if they understand that Washington will never voluntarily propose the requisite amendments. For example, Trump recently signaled his intent to support a constitutional amendment for term limits. Unfortunately, Congress (unsurprisingly) has repeatedly turned down opportunities to pass such an amendment and term limit itself. Stateside, however, roughly nine out of ten Americans support term limits. This means that if Trump wants to pass a term limits amendment, he may have to look to the states and Article V to do it.

There is some historical precedent for this. For example, neither George Washington nor Abraham Lincoln had the authority to call an Article V convention (no one in the federal government has that power!), but both publicly supported the process during their presidencies. Washington expressed his support in his Farewell Address, while Lincoln did so in his First Inaugural Address.

2. Do we even need a convention anymore?

The whole point of Convention of States is to limit the federal government, roll back its excesses and overreach, and make it accountable to the people again. So, why must we call a convention now that President-elect Trump has promised to fill the government with people who will do exactly that? Has the need for an Article V convention expired?

Far from it!

Notably, it’s not yet clear whether Trump will succeed in dismantling the “Deep State.” And even if he does, history cautions that future administrations can quickly undo his work. 

For example, as CNN reported in 2021, “In his first 100 days in office, Biden signed more than 60 executive actions, 24 of which are direct reversals of Trump’s policies.”

“Biden has defended the number as necessary to undo what he considers ‘bad policy’ inherited from Trump, especially on immigration,” CNN added. “To date, 10 of his 12 actions on immigration are reversals of Trump’s policies.”

Mark Meckler, Convention of States President, explains: “We can’t just sit back and hope that President Trump fixes everything. We the People need to do our part. And that means fighting even harder for [an Article V convention] to ensure that meaningful reforms are permanent and can’t just be changed by the next administration.”

“We have already seen what it looked like when Joe Biden took over and reversed much of the good that President Trump had done during his tenure,” he continued. “Additionally, there are things a president just can’t do that still absolutely need to be done. For example, a president can’t impose term limits on Congress. Nor can he limit the Supreme Court to nine Justices, as we need to do by constitutional amendment to prevent leftists from adding Justices and packing the Court in the future.”

“He also can’t 'permanently' do away with federal government authority over health care, education, energy, agriculture, and a whole host of other things the feds were never supposed to be involved in,” Meckler added. “If we want permanent, structural change…we need [an Article V convention]. And now’s the time. When the ideas of limited government and federalism are winning, that’s the time to press forward with the momentum.... So take a quick breath, celebrate for an evening or so, and then redouble your efforts in the fight with Convention of States.”

It’s an exciting time for the movement. But we must not lose focus. We do not rely on anyone in Washington to complete this important task for us. While we will continue to watch with expectancy for new endorsements from the incoming administration, we must keep our noses to the grindstone to make the first-ever Article V convention a reality.

Sign the COS petition below to join the mission!