Deception by Convention of States

The latest gimmick by the Convention of States is to circulate its false claim that a video of "Justice" Scalia shows him endorsing a constitutional convention. "Justice" Scalia said no such thing.

The Convention of States' video is of Antonin Scalia as a relatively young law professor and AEI consultant in 1979, and his remarks at the AEI event were fully repudiated by "Justice" Scalia after his experience of years on the bench. In 2015 Justice Scalia called an Article V convention (Convention of States) a "horrible idea." Those are the wise words of Justice Scalia, which was his ultimate, experienced position.

Lest there be any doubt, on April 17, 2014 Justice Antonin Scalia appeared with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on The Kalb Report show entitled "A Conversation About the First Amendment." Justice Scalia was asked "If you could amend the Constitution in one way, what would it be, and why?" The experienced Justice Scalia replied:

I certainly would not want a Constitutional Convention. I mean whoa. [appreciative laughter by the audience] Who knows what would come out of that?

This is the real video of Justice Scalia on the topic of a Convention of States, and his remarks can be viewed about an hour and six minutes 1:06:10) into the recording here.

By the way, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg then answered the question about which amendment she would want added to the Constitution, and she said the Equal Rights Amendment, which resulted in loud applause by the liberal audience (view at 1:07:10 on the recording).

Our record so far this year is 4-2 in defeating the Convention of States, and a perfect record in defeating ERA in multiple states. We defeated the Convention of States this year in South Dakota, Virginia, Wyoming, and West Virginia. It passed in Utah after hiring a legislator as its lobbyist, and in Arkansas by suspending the rules. Meanwhile, several states that previously passed the Convention of States have sunset provisions for its expiration (such as Missouri in 2022 and Oklahoma in 2023).

Andy Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly Eagles