“By the way, the New York Times article does mention the 38-state ratification requirement—in the 24th out of 28 paragraphs.”

Eugene Volokh:

But here’s the thing: If a constitutional convention is called and proposes amendments, they still have to be ratified by legislatures or conventions (the convention gets to decide which) in 3/4 of all states:

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress;

Maybe I’m wrong, but I expect that this will be a pretty serious bar to any particularly radical proposals. If you disagree, tell me this: What amendments do you think a convention could propose that would get the support of legislatures or conventions in at least 38 of the 50 states, and how conservative (or liberal) do you think those amendments would be?

Bruce Vielmetti:

The authors kicked off a national tour Tuesday at Marquette Law School, where Feingold started his teaching career after losing his Senate re-election race to Ron Johnson in 2010. He has since taught at Yale and Stanford, and currently serves as president of the American Constitution Society, often described as a progressive counterpart to the conservative Federalist Society.