CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION PROCEDURES

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

UNITED STATES SENATE

NINETY-SIXTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

ON

S. 3, S. 520, and S. 1710

BILLS TO PROVIDE PROCEDURES FOR CALLING CONSTITU-
TIONAL CONVENTIONS FOR PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, ON APPLICA-
TION OF THE LEGISLATURES OF TWO-THIRDS OF THE
STATES, PURSUANT TO ARTICLE V OF THE CONSTITUTION

NOVEMBER 29, 1979

Serial No. 96-77

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, Ohio
DENNIS DECONCINI, Arizona
HOWELL HEFLIN, Alabama

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah

STROM THURMOND, South Carolina
ALAN K. SIMPSON, Wyoming

KEVIN O. FALEY, Chief Counsel and Executive Director

MARY K. JOLLY, Staff Director and Counsel

LINDA ROGERS-Kingsbury, Chief Clerk and Deputy Staff Director
STEVE MARKMAN, Minority Counsel

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CONTENTS

OPENING STATEMENTS

Bayh, Hon. Birch, a U.S. Senator from the State of Indiana, chairman,

Subcommittee on the Constitution.....

Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from the State of Utah---
Thurmond, Hon. Strom, a U.S. Senator from the State of South Carolina..

PROPOSED LEGISLATION

S. 3, S. 520, and S. 1710-Bills to provide procedures for calling consti-

tutional conventions for proposing amendments to the Constitution

of the United States, on application of the legislatures of two-thirds of

the States, pursuant to article V of the Constitution.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1979

Kimmitt, J. S., Secretary of the Senate____.

Feerick, John D., representing the American Bar Association, New York,

N.Y..

Page

1

44

44

3

46

49

Black, Charles L., Jr., professor, Yale Law School, New Haven, Conn----

Dellinger, Walter E., professor of law, Duke University-

Van Alstyne, William W., professor, Duke University Law School, Durham,

177

254

N.C..

286

Gunther, Gerald, a William Nelson Cromwell professor of law, Stanford

University School of Law, Stanford, Calif

302

Prepared statement_

183

Statement on Constitutional Convention application, excerpt from

"The Constitution and the Budget," American Enterprise Institute

(1980)--

190

The Proposed Amendment of Article V: A Threatened Disaster, from

the Yale Law Journal vol. 72, No. 5, April 1963-----

Amending the Constitution: A letter to a Congressman, from the Yale

Law Journal, vol. 82, No. 2, December 1972-

Amendment by National Constitutional Convention: A letter to a

Senator, from the Oklahoma Law Review, vol. 32:626, 1979------

Dellinger, Walter E., Professor:

Testimony.

Prepared statement-

197

208

235

254

262

265

267

:

Who Controls a Constitutional Convention? A response, from the

Duke Law Journal 601, 1979 (advance copy)

The Recurring Question of the "Limited" Constitutional Convention,

from the Yale Law Journal, vol. 88, No. 8, July 1979---

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