Members of the Connecticut General Assembly are attempting to pass legislation to rescind every live application to Congress calling for a Convention for proposing Amendments, under Article V of the Constitution, otherwise known as a federal constitutional convention (Con-Con).
House Joint Resolution No. 230 (HJR 230) was introduced by the Government Administration and Elections Committee. If passed by the General Assembly, it would rescind all of Connecticut’s Con-Con applications. It declares:
WHEREAS, the Connecticut General Assembly, pursuant to said Article V, previously made application to the United States Congress to call such a convention for the purpose of proposing such an amendment or amendments concerning participation in a world federal government, through the adoption of Senate Joint Resolution 15 of the 1949 January regular session; and
WHEREAS, the Connecticut General Assembly, pursuant to said Article V, also previously made application to the United States Congress to call such a convention for the purpose of proposing such an amendment or amendments concerning taxation of income of residents of one state by another state, through the adoption of Senate Joint Resolution 9 of the 1958 March special session; and…
WHEREAS, the Connecticut General Assembly no longer wishes the United States Congress to consider its previous applications to call any such convention pursuant to said Article V.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that Senate Joint Resolution 15 of the 1949 January regular session and Senate Joint Resolution 9 of the 1958 March special session are rescinded, canceled, voided, nullified and superseded upon passage of this resolution….
Any Article V convention, no matter how well intentioned, could lead to a runaway convention that would reverse many of the Constitution’s limitations on government power and interference. In other words, a Con-Con could accomplish the same goals that many of its advocates claim to be fighting against. As evidence, both a 2016 and 2023 simulated “Convention of States” resulted in amendments massively increasing the federal government and expanding its spending powers.
Additionally, in the last years of his life, the late Justice Antonin Scalia stood opposed to an Article V convention. Asked about it in a 2015 interview, he remarked that “This is not a good century to write a constitution.” Furthermore, what kind of delegates would Connecticut send to such a convention? Constitutionalist conservatives or RINO moderates and liberals?
On December 9, 2021, constitutionalist U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), warning against a Con-Con, tweeted:
Show me a single state where Constitutionalists comprise a majority of the state legislature.
At this point in history, an Article V Convention of the States would be a disaster.
In 1979, then-U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, correctly warned about an Article V convention:
If we hold a constitutional convention, every group in the country — majority, minority, middle-of-the-road, left, right, up, down — is going to get its two bits in and we are going to wind up with a constitution that will be so far different from the one we have lived under for 200 years that I doubt that the Republic could continue.
An Article V convention possesses the inherent power to propose any changes to the U.S. Constitution, including drafting and proposing an entirely new “modern” (i.e. socialist) constitution. Instead, the Connecticut General Assembly should consider Article VI and nullify unconstitutional laws.
Above all, urge your state representative and senator to support HJR 230, rescind all Article V convention applications, and to consider nullification as a safe and constitutional means to limit government instead.
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