“There is a disagreement among scholars as to whether a state that has approved an application may later rescind that application,” Watson told The Washington Times. “If it is ultimately adjudicated that a state may not rescind a prior application, then Ohio’s 2013 application for a Balanced Budget Amendment convention would be the 33rd and Michigan’s 2014 application would be the 34th on that topic.”
So what say you? Can a State withdraw its application for an Article V Convention, and if so, why can they not also then withdraw their application to be one of the States in the Union?
Another tthought just popped into my head. Would an application for an Article V Convention on a single issue, such as a balanced budget amendment or to remove the free speech rights of corporations in the wake of Citizens United, be considered a general call for an Article V Convention? To date I think that 49 of the 50 States have made an application for one amendment or another. Which raises a question given the language in the Constitution itself.
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
If 49 of 50 States have made an application to Congress for a convention where amendments (plural) may be proposed, does making an application for any amendment mean an application has been made to hold a convention?
