SC Senate. Photo courtesy TheNerve.org.

The New Hampshire House has 400 seats and is now nearly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.

In 2010, a wise NH Legislature rescinded all previously-passed applications asking Congress to call a convention under Art. V (A5C). But in 2012, a new Legislature passed an application for an A5C. Ever since then, NH Legislators have been introducing & debating Delegate bills and applications for a convention. Several new applications for an A5C have also been filed this year in NH.

Delegate bills are ineffective, because State Legislatures have no power to select Delegates to an A5C. State Legislatures have no control over Delegates. But Delegate Bills are dangerous because they give legislators a false sense of security by fooling them into thinking they can control the Delegates and thereby prevent a “runaway convention”.

State Legislatures have no power to select & control Delegates to an Article V Convention

Congress calls the convention provided for in Article V, US Constitution, and makes the laws necessary and proper to organize the convention:

Article V, US Constitution, says:
“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem 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…” [emphasis added]

Article I, §8, last clause, US Constitution, says Congress shall have the Power… “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.”

The April 11, 2014 Report of the Congressional Research Service [CRS] shows that Congress is well aware
that it has the authority to organize and set up the convention:

“Second, While the Constitution is silent on the mechanics of an Article V convention, Congress has
traditionally laid claim to broad responsibilities in connection with a convention, including (1)
receiving, judging, and recording state applications; (2) establishing procedures to summon a convention;
… (4) determining the number and selection process for its delegates…” (p. 4)

S. 1272, the Federal Constitutional Convention Procedures Act, passed the US Senate during 1973, and
illustrates that Congress recognizes that it has the power to determine the number and selection process for
Delegates: It provided for the election of one Delegate from each Congressional District; and the election
of two additional Delegates for the State at large. So, the number of Delegates each State gets would be the same as its number of electoral votes! E.g., Calif would get 55 Delegates.

The convention is a federal function, not a State function; and State Legislatures have no control over it. When
those pushing for an Art. V Convention assure you that State Legislatures will select Delegates & force them to
sign Oaths of obedience to the State Legislature, they are making stuff up. Congress decides how Delegates
will be selected! Whether Congress provides for the election of Delegates (as in S. 1272); or Congress selects
the Delegates, State Legislatures have no power over Delegates. Furthermore, Delegates have the self-evident
Right to “alter or abolish” the existing state & federal governments. So no one has power over Delegates!

We don’t know what Congress will do about selecting Delegates! Congress may appoint themselves as Delegates. Page 40 of the CRS Report shows it’s been recognized that there doesn’t seem to be any “. . .  constitutional prohibition against U.S. Senators and Representatives serving as delegates to an Article V Convention. . .”

Joanna Martin, J.D. is a retired litigation attorney and well known writer and speaker on our US Constitution.  Before getting a law degree, she got a degree in philosophy where she specialized in political philosophy and epistemology. She is a former Captain in the Army JAG Corps, and served in Berlin, Germany during the Cold War. Today, she fights at the tip of the spear to stop State Legislatures from passing applications asking Congress to call an Article V Convention: she warns that if there is an Article V convention, our Constitution is certain to be replaced.

In her many published articles, written under the pen name of “Publius Huldah”, she uses The Federalist Papers to prove the genuine meaning of our Constitution; and shows how federal judges, politicians, and the American People have ignored our Constitution for over a hundred years. She shows how The People can, by learning and enforcing our Founding Principles and Constitution, restore our Constitutional Federal Republic. Martin may be contacted at publiushuldah@gmail.com or https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/

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