Mark Levin has been floating the idea of amending the Constitution to roll back the perpetual expansion and power-grabbing of the federal government. Of course, he recognizes that there is no way Congress would ever propose such a thing as, for example, term limits. But, he points out, Constitutional amendments don’t have to originate with Congress.
Article V of the Constitution says the legislatures of two-thirds of the states–that would be 33 of the 50 states–can call a convention for proposing amendments; and such amendments, if ratified by three-quarters of the states (38 of 50), would become the law of the land.
Our founders recognized that the government established by the War for Independence, and then the Constitution, might itself become tyrannical, and block any efforts to curb its power. So they provided this remedy in Article V, an end-run around Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. It is a way for the American people to exercise their political sovereignty through the states, against the central government.
So let’s say 38 states–hey, let’s say all 50–decide that you can’t stay in Congress for more than 12 years, and that therefore a whole bunch of Senators and Congressmen have got to get out. The Constitution, as amended, now says so.
What if they refuse to get out?
What if the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, says the states misinterpreted Article V and their amendments to the Constitution are invalid? (California courts are always ruling that the actions of the voters are invalid, so this requires no stretch of the imagination.)
And what if the “president” says he won’t enforce those amendments, he doesn’t recognize them as legitimate, and nobody in Washington is going anywhere?
Then what?
Just asking, boss. No harm in asking…