Some Democrats reportedly are concerned that a Republican-led Congress will try to rework the Constitution through a states-inspired convention.
The original 1787 convention in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation was the only time state representatives have convened to work on the Constitution.
However, the document's Article says another convention could be held if two-thirds of state legislatures call for one.
After that, rules for a convention are a bit vague. For instance, the Constitution does not say whether 34 states need to agree on the specific amendment topic to be discussed or whether topics not on the agenda can be raised.
Any amendments proposed by a constitutional convention would need the approval of three-fourths of state legislatures to be ratified.
"The fact that we haven't had one since 1787 leads me to believe it's unlikely to happen, but we're in an unprecedented time in American history, so it's hard to make predictions about anything," University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky said, The New York Times reported. "It's all uncharted territory."
California Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener planned to introduce legislation Monday that would rescind the state's seven active calls for a constitutional convention.
"I do not want California to inadvertently trigger a constitutional convention that ends up shredding the Constitution," Wiener told the Times.
That's because Wiener, who represents San Francisco, and other progressives say a "runaway convention" is a possibility under President-elect Donald Trump and a GOP-led Congress.
Some Democrats say Republicans could call a convention on one premise — perhaps an amendment requiring that the federal budget be balanced — but then would allow for other amendments, such as ones restricting abortion access or civil rights, the Times reported.
Common Cause, a self-reported nonprofit organization, says "extremists and wealthy special interests see it as their best chance to write their far-right agenda into the Constitution."
The group says four major campaigns — the Balanced Budget Amendment campaign, the Convention of States campaign, the Wolf-PAC campaign, and the term limits campaign — are being lodged to convene an Article V convention.
Democrats also point to Trump having said he wants to change the 14th Amendment so that it would not grant citizenship to anybody born in the U.S.
Former Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has pushed for a convention, saying that "Washington is never going to fix itself."
The Times reported that 34 states appear to have standing requests to change the Constitution, some dating back more than 150 years, according to The Article V Library.
Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, chairman of the House Budget Committee, has introduced legislation that would require the head of the National Archives to track state applications.
Arrington says a convention should have been called in 1979 when, he believes, enough states had requested one.
The Times reported that nine Democrat-led states, since 2016, have rescinded decades-old requests for constitutional amendments.
After the Nov. 5 general election, 28 state legislatures will be controlled by Republicans, 18 by Democrats, and the rest will be split, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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