State Initiation of Constitutional Amendments: A Guide for Lawyers and Legislative Drafters

Abstract

The Constitution allows two-thirds of the state legislatures to bypass Congress in proposing constitutional amendments by demanding the call of a "convention for proposing amendments." A spate of recent applications from state legislatures make it more likely that there will be an amendments convention in the near future. This treatise or "compendium" published by Citizens for Self-Governance as part of its Convention of States project provides lawyers, legislators, and others involved in the process with a reliable guide to the law governing amendment conventions. After the original matter, it includes authorized reprints of several important recent articles on the subject.

Keywords: constitutional law, constitutional amendments, constitutional history, amendments convention, constitutional convention, convention for proposing amendments, Article V, convention of states, application for convention

JEL Classification: K1, K10, K19