Slide 8
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”— Joseph Campbell.
The claim that the subject of the state’s application to call the Article V convention of states for proposing amendments is irrelevant is quite frankly hogwash. It is nothing more than another derivation of this scare tactic: There has never been a convention called under Article V, and no one knows what will happen.
Article V, however, is quite clear:
“...on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments…”
Here are the facts:
- Historical records show that state legislatures have submitted hundreds of applications to call for an Article V convention of states to propose amendments.
- These applications broach approximately 175 different topics to be debated.
- Many of these applications cover the same or similar topics (as you can see in the above link), but their wording differs significantly.
- Rules governing interstate conventions (such as the Article V convention) have been established for several hundred years.
- During this meeting, the states are equal sovereigns; therefore, the states' legislatures must agree on the application's wording before the convention can be called.
- The “call” gives the convention the authority to debate and binds the government to honor any amendment ratified.
The main takeaway:
The application's subject is, in fact, the paramount concern when attempting to convene an Article V convention of states to propose amendments. Any argument to the contrary is inaccurate and baseless.
