Stop Deceptive Con-Con Aggregation-scheme Resolution HCR 37 in West Virginia

Members of the West Virginia Legislature are seeking to pass a resolution that tries to force Congress into calling an Article V convention by aggregating old, unrelated Con-Con resolutions.

House Concurrent Resolution 37 (HCR 37) has been introduced. Notably, it does not newly-apply for an Article V convention. Rather, HCR 37 aggregates 39 separate applications ranging from 1788 to 1979 that it claims apply “for any subject [i.e., a plenary convention] or inflation-related fiscal responsibility.” Although the resolution doesn’t list the 39 applications, similar resolutions from Utah and South Carolina do.

By aggregating these unrelated applications, HCR 37 seeks to force Congress to call an Article V constitutional convention. Notably, despite lamenting the massive national debt and inflation, the resolution doesn’t specify a topic area that it wishes a convention to focus on:

…the Legislature calls on the Congress of the United States to do their duty under the constitution and call a convention of states for proposing amendments to the constitution of the United States.

Senate Bill 115 (SB 115) and House Bill 2931 (HB 2931) have also been introduced. These bills would create guidelines to regulate the conduct of delegates to a convention and/or purport to punish delegates that violate the legislature’s guidelines. Although useless, these bills would create a false sense of security that a convention will not get out of control.

Any convention, no matter how well intentioned, could lead to a runaway convention that would reverse many of the Constitution’s limitations on government power and interference. In other words, a Con-Con could accomplish the same goals that many of its advocates claim to be fighting against. As evidence, a 2016 Convention of States (COS) controlled simulation resulted in amendments massively increasing the federal government and expanding its spending powers.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia understood the danger of a constitutional convention. While he voiced support for one at a 1979 event, the justice had reversed his opinion by 2014 due to the uncertainty of what could come out of it. In 2015, Scalia reiterated his opposition to an Article V convention, stating “this is not a good century to write a constitution.”

Furthermore, On, December 9, 2021, constitutionalist U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) tweeted:

Show me a single state where Constitutionalists comprise a majority of the state legislature.

At this point in history, an Article V Convention of the States would be a disaster.

Congressman Massie’s assessment is correct. A modern-day Article V convention would most surely be led and controlled by a mixture of Establishment (RINO) Republicans and progressive Democrats, neither of whom hold to a strict or originalist interpretation of the Constitution. This is evidenced by their mutual acceptance of unconstitutional federal subsidies and grants to the states and/or their refusal to use nullify (based on Article VI and the 10th Amendment of the Constitution) the enforcement of any unconstitutional federal laws, rules, regulations, or rulings within their state.

Overall, HCR 37 is nothing more than a sneaky ploy by BBA Con-Con advocates to reach the necessary 34-state threshold without actually attaining 34 states specifically with a call for a BBA convention. Rather than passing Article V convention applications, which risk a runaway convention threatening our individual freedoms, the Legislature should consider Article VI and nullify unconstitutional laws.

Urge your state delegate and senators to oppose HCR 37, along with any pro-Article V convention resolution, and to instead consider nullification as a safe and constitutional means to limit government.