Slide 15
Day by day, case by case, the Supreme Court is busy designing a Constitution for a country I do not recognize. Antonin Scalia
CLAIM: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia warned against using the Article V Solution. FICTION.
Then Professor Antonin Scalia, University of Chicago, was a panelist in 1979 when the American Enterprise Institute held a panel discussion on the topic: A Constitutional Convention, How Well Would it Work?
This discussion is fascinating, filled with many of the misconceptions that still linger today. Antonin Scalia’s responses are salient, coherent, and illuminating; he identified the problems we were facing then (and still face today). Had we addressed them then, we would not be in the predicament we find ourselves in today.
The opposition briefly addresses this interview, but their dismissive conclusion is that Antonin Scalia was not appointed to the Supreme Court until 1986, and in 1979, he was still just a law professor.
They imply that as a law professor, Justice Scalia wasn’t as informed as he was in 2014 when he made the quote they use as the basis of their claim. He had, by that point, served on the high court for 28 years,
The COSA PA Communications Team recommends everyone watch this one-hour video of the discussion. At the time, multiple attempts were ongoing to call an Article V convention of states to propose amendments to limit government. Jimmy Carter was President, the world was in turmoil, and Ronald Reagan was running for President on a platform to limit government.
The video can be found here:
While listening, ask yourself if the speaker has a preconceived bias or agenda they are trying to advance.
Listen to the points Justice Scalia makes:
- The widespread and deep feelings of powerlessness the citizens feel
- Citizens are heard but not heeded, particularly at the federal level
- Congress has become professionalized
- Congress is more concerned about remaining in office
Congress is served by a bureaucracy subject to powerful interest groups rather than the citizens - These factors have created a justified feeling of disenfranchisement
Then we hear him express his true feelings about the Article V convention of states for proposing amendments:
"The one remedy specifically provided for in the Constitution is the amendment process that bypasses the Congress. I would like to see that amendment process used just once. I do not much care what it is used for the first time, but using it once will exert an enormous influence on both Congress and the Supreme Court. It will establish the parameters of what can be done and how, and after that, the Congress and the Court will behave much better… I really want to see the process used responsibly on a serious issue so that the shibboleth Richard Rovere's alarm about the end of the world--can be put to rest and we can learn how to use the process responsibly in the future…
There is no reason not to interpret it to allow a limited call, if that is what the states desire. But it is difficult to say absolutely that the convention will behave that way. But what is the alternative? The alternative is continuing with a system that provides no means of obtaining a constitutional amendment, except through the kindness of the Congress, which has demonstrated that it will not propose amendments-no matter how generally desired--of certain types. Congress could have resolved many of these questions pertaining to a convention long ago. It could have provided an amendment by the normal amending process saying that "limited" calls for conventions are proper. That would have eliminated all doubt. But the Congress is not about to do that. It likes the existing confusion, because that deters resort to the convention process. It does not want amending power to be anywhere but in its own hands."
Does this sound like a man needing clarification on the difference between Constitutional and Amending Conventions? You decide.
Through Justice Scalia, you can hear echoes of George Mason’s voice from Independence Hall through the corridors of time right into your home.
