Article V: Amending the Constitution
Article V: Amending the Constitution brings together leading constitutional scholars with diverse viewpoints to examine Article V of the U.S. Constitution—the mechanism for amending our nation’s founding charter. Gerard Magliocca, Sanford Levinson, Michael Rappaport, and Stephen Sachs analyze the founder's vision for Article V and take a historical look at the use of the Article V process from 1789 to present, exploring the challenges of constitutional conventions for proposing constitutional amendments and potential reforms.
Report: Article V Constitutional Conventions
Gerard N. Magliocca of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law authored the project’s lead report provides a detailed review of the Constitution’s Article V and the amendment process to set the stage for scholarly debates on this subject.
Read ReportExecutive Summary Of Article V Convention Report
Gerard N. Magliocca summarizes his detailed review of the history and tradition of state legislative petitions for a second national constitutional convention and the use of state conventions to ratify constitutional amendments proposed by Congress.
Read SummaryReflections on the Possibility of a New Constitutional Convention
Sanford Levinson of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law argues that a new constitutional convention is needed because of flaws that comprise a clear and present danger to our collective future.
Read EssayThe Convention Method for Proposing Amendments: Essential, Misunderstood, and Broken
Michael B. Rappaport of the University of San Diego School of Law believes there are reforms of the convention method that would avoid the possibility of a runaway convention and provide a workable alternative, but they face considerable obstacles.
Read EssayRestoring Conventions, One Amendment at a Time
Stephen E. Sachs of Harvard Law School believes we should explore options for a “rolling” convention, one that needn’t meet at a single place at a single time but that nonetheless lets states begin the work of constitutional change.
Read Essay
Special Feature
Interactive Constitution: Article V
Read the plain text of Article V, a common interpretation, and matters of debate over its meaning in our Interactive Constitution.
This project was made possible with the support of Democracy Restated.
