Now that Constitution Day has passed, it is time to face reality. Only a fiscal responsibility constitutional amendment can force Congress to restore and sustain fiscal sanity. To light the fuse, it is time for a state attorney general to stand up and assert the rights of the states under Article V of the U.S. Constitution and hold Congress accountable for its failure to act. State attorneys general clearly have standing to sue and should do so.
Article V of the Constitution states that Congress “shall call” a convention when two-thirds of the states (34) file applications. As Alexander Hamilton emphatically declared in Federalist No. 85: “The words of this article are peremptory. The Congress ‘shall call a convention.’ Nothing in this particular is left to the discretion of that body.” Hamilton went to great lengths to make his point so that a compromise that protected states’ rights could be made to facilitate the ratification of the initial Constitution.
