![A Heritage Foundation report said some states and scholars fear an Article V Convention.[Image via Rachael K Dooley/ In These Times]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/6/20/660x290/b_502x220x82/corporate-america-is-just-6-states-short-of-a-constitutional-by-rachael-k-dooley-for-in-these-times-on-flckr_1397061.jpg "A Heritage Foundation report said some states and scholars fear an Article V Convention.[Image via Rachael K Dooley/ In These Times]")
A clause in Article V of the U.S. Constitution gives states the authority to draft their own constitutional amendments. Called a Title V Amendment Convention thirty-four states legislatures have to pass a measure to hold a constitutional convention. In 2011, after Obama became president ALEC, a KOCH Advocacy Group, wrote a handbook on how to call for a constitutional convention. It was distributed during The Balanced Budget Amendment Task Forces 2015 legislative forum. Since the beginning of the year, ALEC has been lobbying states with Republican legislative majorities hoping to get enough states on board to convene an Article V Amendment Convention.
It would be a closed meeting made up of delegates selected by states that voted for a Title V Amendment Convention. They would have full control of changing Constitution with no outside influence. The President and the U.S. Congress have no power in a convention of this type.
A Title V Amendment Convention could have far-reaching repercussions
A Heritage Foundation report cited that there are some states and scholars who fear an Article V convention, and with good reason. Corporate lobbyists and political groups, like the Convention of States, exert a tremendous amount of influence over state governments. Raw Story pointed out that the leader of COS, Mark Meckler, a professional Tea Party campaigner had been emailing supporters that if a convention is held he will encourage delegates to amend the constitution limiting the Federal Governments fiscal authority and its jurisdiction and mandate a national voter ID.
Meckler also has deep ties to Ralph Reed and the Faith and Freedom Coalition, and the Republican party going back as far as 2012. There would be the potential for the passage of new Constitutional amendments that could be weighted towards religious fundamentalists and other Conservative special interest groups. Raw Story went on to cite that President Trump and a group of billionaire backers are trying to influence states into backing a Title V Amendment Convention.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warns states can't control a convention
Originally the idea behind a Constitutional Convention was to set term limits for members of the U.S. and state Houses of Representatives and to force the government to balance the budget. But factoring in the ideologies of the Tea Party Patriots and Conservative Republicans, along with legislators with strong ties to Religious Fundamentalists and campaign donors, a convention could be so full of opposing ideas on how to amend the constitution that a Title V Amendment Convention get out of hand.
The late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made the remark in 2014 that he wouldn't want to see a Constitutional Convention take place. And the CBPP quoted Cheif Justice Warren Burger who once said "There is no way to effectively limit the actions of a Constitutional Convention because it can make its own rules and set its own agenda. Congress might try to limit the Convention to one amendment or issue, but there is no assurance that the Convention would obey." How democracy would fare in a Title V Amendment Convention can only be speculated about.
