Congress’ obligation to call a convention of states under Article V of the United States' Constitution
Congress’ obligation to call a convention of states under Article V of the United States' Constitution

Summary/Abstract: Under Article V of the United States Constitution Congress is required to call a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution whenever two thirds of states legislatures so apply. The exact nature and extent of Congress’s authority granted by this provision of the Constitution are, however, unclear. The most contentious questions are whether Article V gives Congress legislative authority to establish rules governing the convention of states process; whether they can scrutinize states’ applications and make final decisions regarding their validity, and to what extent the Constitution authorizes federal legislature to control organization of a convention of states and its deliberations. There is no ready answer to neither of these questions, yet they need to be addressed to properly establish what does the obligation to call a convention of states put upon Congress by the Constitution actually entail. The prospect of such a convention may still be dim, still in recent years the alternative route to amend the Constitution has certainly attracted new attention. The extent of Congress’s authority under Article V has never been firmly established. In this article we argue that congressional powers regarding convention of states process are strictly limited. To support this conclusion we rely on textual, historical, and structural arguments.

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