October 7, 2007

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The Second Constitutional Convention

Larry Sabato on DailyKos:

To begin with, by what sort of mechanism would all of this constitutional change be achieved? Our present Constitution outlines two ways to bring about amendments. The method used for all amendments up until now has been a proposed amendment passing both houses of Congress by a two-thirds majority in each house, then getting ratified by three-quarters of the states. For interlocking reforms of the scope and scale that I am proposing, however, such a piecemeal process wouldn’t work.

Instead, we need to turn to the second process, one never before used in the history of the United States: a Constitutional Convention. Thirty-four states would petition Congress for a Convention, and the Congress would be obligated to call it — while designing a “Call to Convention” document that would list the subjects to be considered by the delegates.

What an electrifying idea. Sabato’s going to be writing about it — it’s the subject of his new book — and responding to questions for the next few weeks on Daily Kos.