Written by Attorney Mike Stern on 2/15/2015 to a state legislatorwho was concerned about a possible “runaway convention”. Dear State Legislator: I served as a counsel to Congress for many years, including 8 years as Senior Counsel to the House of Representatives. Since leaving the Hill, I have written extensively on a variety of legal issues related to Congress and the legislative process, including the Article V process for proposing amendments initiated by the state legislatures. A link to a law review article I published several years ago on the Article V convention may be found at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1904587#%23. I am writing to clear up significant misconceptions which are being circulated regarding the Article V process.
As State Legislators, we have a solemn obligation to defend the rights of the people and protect the sovereign authority of our states, but the powers in Washington D.C. have made that almost impossible. Decades of out of control spending and a slow erosion of the balance of power between the states and the Federal government have all but destroyed the constitutional federalism that our founding fathers established.
The drafters of our Constitution knew this could happen and so they gave us the tools to keep the genius of Federalism functioning, but we have to use those tools.
The stronger we are, the sooner we can take the credit cards away from Washington and put our nation back on track.
Join the caucus today!
• Mount Vernon Assembly Gets a New Name
• Louisiana Adopts 24th BBA-Focused A5 Application
• Vermont Adopts Application for Article V Convention
• A Progress Report on Article V Activities
• Texas GOP Adopts Platform Plank Supporting Article V
• Florida Outlines Protocol for Article V Delegate Selection
• Citizens Getting Involved in Push for Article V Convention
• Efforts Blocked in Arizona to Adopt Article V Bills
• Herman Cain Announces Support for Use of A5
