Constitutional Conventions: Power to the People or Pandora's Box?

Abstract

Imagine a world where private organizations controlling state legislatures had the power to change the United States Constitution without any input from Congress whatsoever. There is no need to imagine, as powerful private groups are currently pushing captured state legislatures to the ultimate battleground for constitutional change: an Article V convention. Groups like the American Legislative Exchange Corporation (ALEC) have infiltrated state legislatures, particularly those in conservative states, making it difficult to tell who is actually governing: the democratically elected bodies of the states themselves, or corporations hawking “pre-packaged bills in state houses across the country.” Organizations such as ALEC have weakened state legislatures to the point that it is unclear where changes in the law are actually coming from. Although people have been aware of ALEC’s existence since the 1970s, the corporation’s practices are certainly not widely known