Amendment by National Constitutional Convention: A Letter to a Senator

Abstract

Article V of the United States Constitution provides that "the Congress,...on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments.... " This language, seemingly clear in meaning on the surface, has spawned a constitutional controversy of significant dimensions. In short, does the Article V language authorize state applications for a national Constitutional Convention limited as to subject matter, or does the Article solely recognize state applications for a general convention, to propose such amendments as seem proper to the Convention? Recently, Professor Black wrote the following letter concerning the controversy to Senator Edward Kennedy (D. Mass.), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The letter provides a valuable dissertation on the history and meaning of the applicable language of Article V, according to a leading constitutional scholar. In particular, the letter takes issue with the finding of a special committee of the American Bar Association that Article V authorizes Congress to establish procedures limiting a Constitutional Convention to the subject matter propounded in the state applications. The letter is reproduced as written, save for the addition of footnotes to sources cited in the manuscript