Rescind Now!
by Christian Gomez, Research Project Manager
Let’s make 2023 the year of rescissions. Next month begins a new year, and with it many new state legislators will be sworn in across the country.
Article V of the U.S. Constitution states: “The Congress … on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments.” (Emphasis added.) “Two thirds of the several States” is 34 (out of 50). As of November 14, 2022, 19 states have outstanding, or live, applications based on the Convention of States (COS) organization’s model resolution, which calls for an Article V convention to propose amendments to the Constitution (i.e., a constitutional convention, or Con-Con). Also, 26 state legislatures have live applications for a convention to propose a balanced budget amendment (BBA). Except for Georgia and South Carolina, every state with a live COS Con-Con application is among the 26 states with live BBA Con-Con applications.
We must focus on rescinding (meaning repealing or revoking) every previously passed application for a Con-Con. A little over a year ago, the leftist organization Wolf-PAC had five states with live applications for a convention to propose a campaign-finance-reform amendment. However, in December 2021, the legislature of New Jersey rescinded all its past convention applications, including one from Wolf-PAC, and the Illinois General Assembly did the same earlier this year. In the span of six months, Wolf-PAC had two of its five Con-Con applications repealed!
The same can and must be done with COS and BBA Con-Con applications in 2023. But first, we must educate state legislators, who may have initially voted for those applications, about the dangers of a convention. To help you inform those legislators why COS, in particular, is wrong, we now have made available a reprint containing the articles “COS Endorses JBS — Except for ‘One Blind Spot’” and “COS Makes Hay of Dubious National Survey,” both of which originally appeared in the October 17, 2022 issue of The New American.
Especially if you live in one of the 19 states with a live COS Con-Con application, we encourage you as a chapter to order copies (perhaps 50 to start out with) of this reprint and get them into the hands (and offices) of every state legislator and their legislative aides. The information contained in both articles is devastating to the arguments made and used by COS to convince, or “hoodwink,” lawmakers into passing their broadly worded convention application. Also use these reprints to convince fellow activists who are not yet JBS members about the dangers of an Article V convention and, especially, the lies propagated by COS.
If you live in another state — especially one that is, or will be, controlled by Republicans — remain vigilant, as legislators could attempt to pass new applications next year. Urge your legislators in those states to also rescind any live applications.
To see if yours is one of the 19 states with live applications, visit our “COS Article V Convention Status” map at https://gojt.us/6odf. Copies of the aforementioned reprint can be purchased at ShopJBS.org.