Art. V Requires Proposed Amendments by Deliberative Bodies in a Deliberative Process
- “Legislatures” and “conventions” under Article V, the Amendments Clause, to our Constitution, refer to “deliberative assemblages.” [i]
- Such “deliberative assemblages” speak for the people not the state. [ii]
- Article V requires that any amendments to our Constitution be proposed by a deliberative body[iii] through a deliberative process.
- Only Congress or other deliberative body (“convention”) called by Congress, under Article V, may propose constitutional amendments under our Constitution.
- The amendments process of Article V is a national process controlled by the Constitution. Any action by a state regarding Article V must be done under authority of the Constitution. [iv]
- Neither legislative bodies nor courts, national or state, have the authority to alter the methods fixed by the Constitution for proposing or ratifying amendments. [v]
- Attempts to negate the deliberative prerogative of delegates to an amendments convention or a ratification convention, such as by state statutory limitations, would conflict with the requirements of Article V and would therefore be automatically nullified under Article VI clause 2, the Supremacy Clause.
- Attempts to negate the deliberative process required under Article V, such as by an interstate compact, including under Article I, §10 clause 3, would conflict with the requirements of Article V and would therefore be automatically nullified under Article VI clause 2, the Supremacy Clause.
[i] Hawke v. Smith , 253 U.S. 221, 226-7 (1920)
[ii] Hawke v. Smith , 253 U.S. 221, 226-7 (1920)
[iii] Having the function of deliberating, as a legislative assembly: a deliberative body. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/deliberative ; to think carefully or attentively; reflect:, to consult or confer formally; http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/deliberate?s=t
[iv] Hawke v. Smith , 253 U.S. 221, 226-7 (1920)
[v] Hawke v. Smith , 253 U.S. 221, 227 (1920); Leser v. Garnett, 258 U.S. 130 (1922)
”But the function of a state legislature in ratifying a proposed amendment to the federal Constitution, like the function of Congress in proposing the amendment, is a federal function derived from the federal Constitution, and it transcends any limitations sought to be imposed by the people of a state.”