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Proposed Legislation To Implement The Convention Method Of Amending The Constitution, Sam J. Ervin Jr.
Proposed Legislation To Implement The Convention Method Of Amending The Constitution, Sam J. Ervin Jr.
Michigan Law Review
Article V of the Constitution of the United States provides that constitutional amendments may be proposed in either of two ways--by two-thirds of both houses of the Congress or by a convention called by the Congress in response to the applications of two-thirds of the state legislatures. Although the framers of the Constitution evidently contemplated that the two methods of initiating amendments would operate as parallel procedures, neither superior to the other, this has not been the case historically. Each of the twenty-five constitutional amendments ratified to date was proposed by the Congress under the first alternative. As a result, …
The Dirksen Amendment And The Article V Convention Process, Arthur Earl Bonfield
The Dirksen Amendment And The Article V Convention Process, Arthur Earl Bonfield
Michigan Law Review
This article will concentrate on the legal issues facing Congress in the current effort to call a constitutional convention. Because all of the previous amendments to the Constitution were proposed to the states by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, the issues raised in the present situation have never been resolved. The appropriate course of action for the national legislature is especially in doubt. An attempt will therefore be made here to focus on proper decision-making by Congress in resolving these constitutional issues. The role of the judiciary will be considered only incidentally, since, as will be seen, …