Can you imagine the literal shit show that would happen if a Convention of States was called?

[jmowreader]

The Hard Right believes they could weld things like a flat tax, national abortion ban, this, that and the other thing into the Constitution.

No, what would ACTUALLY happen is the Left would open up with a Second Amendment repeal, universal health care, and a lot of other liberal ideas and by the time the Right got done fighting over that they'd lose their taste for screwing up the Constitution and walk out en masse.

[Retrograde]

1. What's the process for changing the Constitution this way?

Does it need to be approved by 3/4 of the states like normal amendments? If states don't approve, will they be part of the "new" union - i.e., does it nullify the current constitution? If they don't ratify, can they go off and be their own country or countries?

[rsdsharp]

3. It takes 2/3rds of the states to call a convention to propose amendments.

It takes 3/4ths of the states to ratify the proposed amendments. It doesn’t nullify the Constitution or dissolve the union, any more than if amendments are proposed in Congress. Article 5 of the Constitution.

[jmowreader]

4. This is Article V of the Constitution

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

The process is very simple, at least in theory.

First, an Amendment must be proposed, and there are two ways to do it.

Way Number 1 is for Congress to prepare a Joint Resolution. It must pass the House and the Senate by two-thirds majorities.

Way Number 2 is for two-thirds of the state legislatures to request a convention of the states be formed.

If an amendment gets that far, it then goes to the states. The amendment can state in it whether it is to be ratified by the legislatures of the states, or by conventions in the states. (The 21st was the only one ratified by conventions - Congress knew how infiltrated the statehouses were by the Anti-Saloon League so if the legislatures were in charge of this one we still wouldn't have any beer.) Anyway, once the amendment hits the states three-quarters of them need to vote in favor of ratifying it before it becomes part of the Constitution.

That last part is why I fear no convention of the states: even if the scumbags DO manage to get enough states to call this convention, it only takes 13 states to stomp any proposed amendment into the ground...and California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington aren't going to put up with turning America into Jesusland.

[Initech]

2. I can't imagine the horrors that the right would unleash.

[tritsofme]

5. There aren't 38 states to ratify partisan amendments from either side.

Such a convention would be a nothing-burger.

[roamer65]

6. I want an amendment similar to the EU's Article 50 of its Lisbon Treaty.

A secession formula so the blue states can get out of this shitshow.

We would save a shit ton of money not having to pay out red state welfare anymore.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

7. Why do people keep bringing this up?

They don't have enough states on their side to make it happen.

None of these states will agree to it:

California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Hawaii
Illinois
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Oregon
Rhode Island
Vermont
Washington

That's 19 states, plenty to shut it down before it ever gets off the ground.

And I wouldn't count on New Hampshire, Pennsylvania or Virginia agreeing to it, either. That gets the number up to 22.

I would also predict that some of the bluer red states like Arizona and Georgia would also balk at joining such a ridiculous movement.

So up to half the states either aren't or are unlikely to go along with this nonsense.

So why keep bringing it up?

[sanatanadharma]

10. Because States change, I doubt that anyone has failed to notice.

Absolutism is not wise!

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. There doesn't seem to be anything specifying how a "Convention of States" would run

So I think it wouldn't even be possible to agree on its rules (eg Republicans would want a simple majority of states to be able to vote anything through, Democrats would want representation based on state population). I don't think it'd get as far as actually voting on any issues.

[Silent3]

9. There's a lot about our Constitution that needs to be fixed...

...but it sure isn't the stuff MAGAts would try to change.

Fortunately, there isn't enough support for the crap they'd try to pull. Unfortunately, there isn't enough support for the things that need to be fixed either.