Fact Sheet:
Deceptions and Myths Regarding Article V:
Art. V Requires Proposed Amendments by Deliberative Bodies in a Deliberative Process
1. "Legislatures" and "conventions" under Article V, the Amendments Clause, to our
Constitution, refers to "deliberative assemblages." i
2. Such "deliberative assemblages" speak for the people not the state. ii
3. Article V requires that any amendments to our Constitution be proposed by a
deliberative bodyiii through a deliberative process.
4.Only Congress or other deliberative body ("convention") called by Congress, under
Article V, may propose constitutional amendments under our Constitution.
5. 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
6. Neither legislative bodies or courts, national or state, have the authority to alter the
methods fixed by the Constitution for proposing or ratifying amendments. v
7. 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.
8. 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.
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©R D Fry 02/20/2014
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Hawke v. Smith , 253 U.S. 221, 226-7 (1920)
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."
i
ii