ACS Chicago: Weaponizing Article V: An Emerging Threat to our Constitution

There has been a coordinated, dangerous, and misguided effort to alter the U.S. Constitution through an Article V Convention. Special interest groups are attempting to use this provision to force Congress to authorize a convention to rewrite the Constitution. To force a convention, 34 states must apply to Congress to call one. As some states have rescinded their applications and others have resisted passing them, proponents of an Article V convention have begun to advocate combining applications passed over the past half-century that seek a Balanced Budget Amendment with six applications states passed more than a century ago to address entirely separate concerns. This once-fringe legal theory has gained traction in conservative circles. Pro-convention advocates are counting an application from New York-- which was passed in 1789-- in addition to other plenary applications from New Jersey, Illinois, Washington and Oregon in their effort to rewrite the U.S. Constitution.

Join the Chicago, New York, Puget Sound, Washington D.C., and New Jersey Lawyer Chapters and the Rutgers Law School ACS Student Chapter for a discussion with leading constitutional law and policy experts on why we should be concerned about an Article V Constitutional Convention and what states like NY, NJ, IL, WA, and OR can do to make a difference.

Introductory Remarks by:

Russ Feingold, ACS President 

Featuring:

Wilfred Codrington, Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School and Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice;

Aziz Huq, Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School and Member, ACS National Board of Directors;

Carolyn Shapiro, Professor of Law and ACS Faculty Advisor at Chicago Kent College of Law and Member, ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter Board of Advisors;

David Super, Professor of Law and Economics, Georgetown Law

Moderated by:



Karen Hobert Flynn, President, Common Cause