North Carolina joins the states calling for a constitutional convention

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The United States Constitution’s First Amendment.

This month, lawmakers from North Carolina decided to ask Congress to call a convention of states to consider amending the US Constitution. Some Republican politicians have been calling for the creation of a constitutional convention for over ten years.

The resolution from North Carolina is one of several convention proposals that have been sent to Congress after being accepted by other states. Congress must call a convention when 34 states request one.

The conference should only discuss a constitutional amendment imposing term limits for members of Congress, according to North Carolina’s resolution. North Carolina’s resolution states that the term restriction application should not be counted among the state applications on other matters, but rather should be counted with other state applications toward the 34 goal.

However, David A. Super, a constitutional researcher at Georgetown University Law Center, stated that Congress has the authority to count state applications however it pleases, so it makes no difference what North Carolina states in its resolution.

In an interview, Super said that nothing in the Constitution permits those restrictions. Congress decides how to count.

The chairman of the House Budget Committee, U.S. Representative Jodey Arrington, a Republican from Texas, says the 34-state requirement has already been satisfied and that Congress ought to call a convention.

Interest groups are collaborating to encourage states to enact resolutions requesting a convention to propose amendments under Article V of the US Constitution. This was the first time the Constitution had been changed through a convention.

Because it can propose any constitutional amendments it desires once it convenes, Super characterizes the push for an Article V conference as dangerous. In a 2021 American Constitution Society problem brief, he stated that states would not always be able to choose representatives to a constitutional convention.

Three-fourths of state legislatures would have to approve any proposed amendments from a convention.

States have asked for a convention since the 1700s to discuss topics including direct senatorial election, prohibition repeal, and anti-polygamy laws. Forty-five years ago, dozens of states, including North Carolina, backed a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

One of the initiatives to create an Article V convention is now being led by the Convention of States Action. Founded by Michael Farris, the founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association, and Mark Meckler, a cofounder of the Tea Party Patriots, the Convention of State Action has begun a vigorous campaign to convince states to enact a resolution requesting a convention to consider amendments that limit the federal government’s power and jurisdiction, impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and members of Congress.

Representatives have just visited the North Carolina state government building with a llama dressed in red, white, and blue. Last year, the group s senior advisor, former Republican U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, held a press conference with House Speaker Tim Moore and other legislators, urging North Carolina to support their convention application.

Santorum returned to the state this year, speaking at a constitutional convention rally.

Since 2015, North Carolina Republicans in the House and Senate have introduced legislation similar to the proposed resolution by the Convention of State Action. The resolution nearly passed in 2017, but it was removed from the House schedule just before a final vote.

In March 2023, the House passed the favored resolution of the Convention of States Action, as well as a separate resolution limiting term limits.

On December 2, the Senate passed the term limits measure as one of its final votes of the session.

The organization U.S. Term Limits supports a convention to propose an amendment on that one topic. It lists North Carolina as one of nine states that have enacted the term restriction resolution.

When asked if single-issue resolutions can be combined with resolutions referencing additional concerns to meet the 34-state requirement, Stacey Selleck of U.S. Term Limits responded in an email that the question will likely be answered by the courts.

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