A Convention to Amend the Constitution, and More from CRS
Article V of the U.S. Constitution prescribes two ways by which the Constitution can be amended: Either Congress may propose amendments for ratification by the states, or else a majority of state legislatures may ask Congress to call a convention for considering amendments.
A new report by the Congressional Research Service examines the possibility of a convention to amend the Constitution. That option has never been used in practice but, CRS says, it could become newly appealing under present circumstances.
“Various contemporary developments could contribute to a renewal of congressional interest in the Article V Convention alternative,” the new CRS report said. “The emergence of Internet and social media-driven public policy and issue campaigns has combined with renewed interest in specific constitutional amendments, and the Article V Convention procedure in general, as a means of bypassing perceived policy deadlock at the federal level.”
However, “The Constitution provides only a brief description of the Article V Convention process, leaving many details that would need to be considered if a convention were to become a serious prospect.”
A copy of the new CRS report was obtained by Secrecy News. See The Article V Convention to Propose Constitutional Amendments: Contemporary Issues for Congress, July 9, 2012.
Other new and updated CRS reports that have not been approved by Congress for broad public access include the following.
Health Care: Constitutional Rights and Legislative Powers, July 9, 2012
U.S. Postal Service: Background and Analysis of H.R. 2309 and S.1789 in the 112th Congress, July 9, 2012
Conventional Prompt Global Strike and Long-Range Ballistic Missiles: Background and Issues, July 6, 2012
Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information, June 26, 2012
This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.
FAS is launching the Center for Regulatory Ingenuity (CRI) to build a new, transpartisan vision of government that works – that has the capacity to achieve ambitious goals while adeptly responding to people’s basic needs.