State Legislators: Don’t Miss V the People!
Professor Lawrence Lessig and his team of Harvard Law students have assembled an all-star slate of scholars, elected officials, and organizers from across the political spectrum to represent both pro and con viewpoints on deploying the first-ever Article V Convention in American history. Is it time? Is it safe? Can it solve some of our most intractable problems? Read coverage in Harvard Law Today and sign up to attend here.
Registration is required. State legislators attend free!
If you can’t be there in person, join the livestream here.
Gallup: 89% of Americans Think the Federal Government is Corrupt
By Vickie Deppe
Americans’ perception of corruption in the federal government has reached a 20-year high of 89%. This is up 30 points from 2006, when “only” 59% of Americans felt this way. Though no corresponding public perception data is available for state governments, a 2025 Cato Institute study documenting convictions on charges brought by the Department of Justice against government employees over a 20-year period is instructive. Though there is no obvious predictor of public corruption (such as population, state legislative party control, or number of government employees per capita, e.g.), there is a very wide gap in criminal convictions between the most and least corrupt states. The most corrupt state as determined by the annual rate of government employee convictions is Louisiana at 1.05. The least corrupt state is New Hampshire at .07, a 15-fold difference.
As we frequently mention in this space, the federal government has usurped many powers reserved to the States as explained in the 10th Amendment. When powers move from the states to the federal government, accountability is lost. If the people of a state view its government as corrupt, state officials are far easier to unseat in an election than their federal counterparts. If their own state law enforcement apparatus is ineffective in dealing with corruption, they can appeal to federal law enforcement for help. But to whom do we turn when the corruption is in the federal government? There is nowhere else to turn. For 19 of the last 20 years, fully 2/3 of Americans—regardless of party control in Washington—believed their federal government to be corrupt.
Only the states can fix this. And an Article V Convention is the only means to accomplish it.
Article V News
FedLaws: Don’t Believe Everything You See on the Internet
A website called “FedLaws” provides legal information on a dozen different topics, including a newly-posted piece on Article V. It’s a mess, conflating state constitutional conventions with a convention for proposing amendments as provided for in Article V of the US Constitution. Many of our readers will find its use of the appellation “Constitutional Convention” particularly irksome. Perhaps the most oblivious (and laughable) statement concerns Congress’ obligatory duty to call the convention: “… whether Congress could drag its feet … has never been resolved.” One would think that nearly a half-century of foot-dragging would have resolved the matter. There are many more problems with this piece that we won’t waste time on here. It’s so bad we’re not even going to provide a link.
Article V Legislative Activity
Editor’s Note: most state legislatures were not in session in September.
Convention of States Project
- Massachusetts: HB 5422 remains pending in the Rules Committee.
- Michigan: HCR 7 remains pending in the Senate Government Operations Committee.
- New Jersey: SCR 32 remains pending in the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism, and Historic Preservation Committee. The measure has bipartisan support.
- Ohio: SJR 3 and HJR 2 remain pending in their respective committees.
- Pennsylvania: HR 125 remains pending in the House State Government Committee. The measure includes delegate selection and oversight language and has bipartisan support.
Countermand
- Pennsylvania: SR 118 remains pending in the State Government Committee. The legislation also contains language pertinent to delegates, so it is also included in the DSO list below.
Equal Rights Amendment
Fiscal Responsibility
- United States: HCR 15 remains pending in the House Judiciary Committee.
- South Carolina: S 1164 remains pending in the Judiciary Committee. In addition to applying for the convention, it provides for state action if Congress fails to act on the call and offers Charleston, SC as host.
Free and Fair Elections (Wolf Pack)
Term Limits
- United States Congress: HJR 12 and SJR 1 continue to remain pending in their respective committees. The House rendition has bipartisan support.
- United States Congress: HJR 29, allowing the president to serve a third term under certain circumstances, continues to remain pending in Judiciary.
- New Hampshire: HCR 16 received a hearing in Executive Session after having been referred for interim study.
- Pennsylvania: HR 21 continues to await a hearing in the State Government Committee. The measure covers Supreme Court justices as well as members of Congress and has bipartisan support.
Delegate Selection and Oversight
- Michigan: HCR 2 and HB 5151 have been reported out of committee with recommendation and without amendment. Both await second reading.
- New Jersey: S 832 continues to await action in the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism, and Historic Preservation Committee.
- North Carolina: H 214 continues to await action in the Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate.
- Ohio: HB 67 and SB112 continue to await action in their respective committees.
- Pennsylvania: HR 125 and SR 117 continues to await action in the State Government Committee (see also Convention of States Project and Countermand legislation, above).
- South Carolina: S 1163 continues to await a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Compact for a Safe and Equal Convention for Proposing Constitutional Amendments
- South Carolina: S 1165 continues to await action in the Judiciary Committee.
Rescission
- Alaska: HJR 41 continues to await action in the Judiciary Committee.
Other
New Jersey: SCR 22, applying for a convention to propose a balanced budget amendment, a term limits amendment, and unspecified changes to the allocation of Electoral College votes, continues to await a hearing in the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism, and Historic Preservation Committee.s, continues to await a hearing in the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism, and Historic Preservation Committee.
Many thanks to our friend and colleague David Guldenschuh for sharing his Article V Progress Report to Caucus Newsletter readers!
Constitutional Education
Last Branch Standing by Sarah Isgur is an informative (and entertaining!) look at the not-as-partisan-as-one-might-think Supreme Court and its role in our checks-and-balances system.
Who Said it?
Collective decision making is much harder than I thought.
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court