Rick Santorum outlined a plan to fundamentally remake the United States when he spoke to Republican lawmakers in San Diego.
It would be a conservative country.
Santorum said that the transformation would end with a first-of-its-kind convention to rewrite the constitution.
Santorum, a two-time GOP presidential candidate and former CNN commentator, explained in audio of his remarks obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy. If every Republican legislator voted for this, we would have a convention.
There is a movement spearheaded by powerful conservative interests, some of whom are tied to Trumpworld and share many of Trump's goals, to change the nation's bedrock legal text since 1787. The effort has mostly taken place out of the public eye.
Interviews with a dozen people involved in the constitutional convention movement, along with documents and audio recordings reviewed by Insider, show a lengthy, well-funded, and passionate campaign taking root in multiple states.
Success is fueling them.
During a few weeks in June, the Supreme Court's three new appointees helped to reverse the decision to end abortion. They made gun rights stronger. Future presidents don't have as much power to deal with the climate crisis. Conservatives have been trying to change the course of history for decades.
This isn't a physical activity. State lawmakers are invited to huddle in Denver starting on Sunday to learn more about the inner workings of a possible constitutional convention at Academy of States 3.0, the third part of a boot camp.
There is a 50% chance that the United States will see a constitutional convention in the next five years, according to Rob Natelson, a senior fellow at the Independence Institute. He said that it's dependent on Republicans' success winning state legislatures in the next election.
Some people in the conservative constitutional convention movement don't think it's imminent. It will take a long time to reach their goal. Republicans will need to convince holdouts of the necessity for a convention in order to flip several Democratic-controlled state legislatures.
They've made progress over the years. It's been a lot lately.
They have a plan right now.
One of the ways to amend the nation's organizing document is the most dramatic.
Three-fourths of states would have to approve the amendment in order for it to become law. This is how all 27 amendments to the Constitution were added, but it's a path that is largely blocked because of partisan divisions. No American under the age of 30 has ever seen the nation amend the constitution.
Two-thirds of the US states are required to call a convention. State legislatures have the power to call for a convention, but only if they pass and approve amendments without a governor's signature, Congress' intervention, or any input from the president.
Some states have tried and failed to get a convention. Over the course of 200 years, they've issued hundreds of pro-convention resolutions or calls to change the constitution. The American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonprofit organization with close ties to tobacco and drug companies, and the Republican Party are now in control of many statehouses.
A convention led by conservatives could change the constitution.
They want to repeal federal environmental standards, nix nationwide education requirements, and create an incredibly high threshold for Washington, DC to become a state. For someone like Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, it would be difficult to work for decades within the government.
Donald Trump would find a lot to like about the convention movement.
Richard Nixon made a famous statement when he said that "when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal" The White House did not have to comply with congressional subpoenas and Trump tried to claim that he could end birthright citizenship.
Term limits for federal bureaucrats in addition to members of Congress are among the planks of the Convention of States' movement.
It has already done that. Many of Trump's current and former allies are included in the Constitutional Convention boosters.
The Convention of States hosted a mock convention in 2016 for people who had 888-492-0 888-492-0 888-492-0's on their 888-492-0's.
In a video produced by the convention simulation organizers, Eastman said that it was the most extraordinary thing he had ever been involved in. The process is working.
Ahead of the National Conference of State Legislatures' summit in Denver in 2022, the Academy of States 3.0 is happening Sunday. A new constitutional convention could take place in 24 months according to the group on its website.
According to the Center for Media and Democracy's executive director, it's not out of reach. It's a real threat.
Conservatives have embraced the political long game in achieving their most prized policy goals and the movement to call a convention could be no different.
"For the last 25 years, people in the pro-life movement have done the blocking and tackling necessary for this day to come," Santorum said. Five years ago, no one would have said that the case of Wade would be reversed. Nobody is in this room.
The GOP spent decades investing in control of state legislatures through well-funded and resourced groups like the Republican State Leadership Committee, which has spent tens of millions over the last few decades locking down GOP control of state legislatures.
The sustained investments have secured GOP dominance in state legislatures for a long time, and ensured the GOP would have the upper hand in a convention.
According to a new report by the Center for Media and Democracy, the Republicans would control at least 27 and up to 31 out of 50 delegations to a convention.
It would take two-thirds of the state legislature to call a convention and three-fourths to vote to approve any amendments to the constitution. Governors, Congress, and the White House are not involved in this particular process.
Santorum is one of the movement's most devoted supporters and he argues that changing the Constitution is a goal that looms larger than a single election cycle.
We will have a great election. The movement is difficult to control. What's the reason? Santorum invoked the vision of federalism of the founding fathers to say that every institution in America is against them. I want you to know that you have the key.
With Congress sharply divided, activists say that a convention would send a clear message to Washington that it needs to change its ways.
"All we can do now is beg from the cheap seats and say, 'Hey, don't do that,'" said state Rep. Bill Taylor, who led his state's push to pass a call for a convention.
Conservatives want to put the nation's Capitol on notice because of the dominance of Democrats.
The living hell out of Washington will be scared by the idea of states coming together. They will be scared of the states.
There is more than one right in pursuing a convention. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, Cenk Uygur founded the Wolf PAC. The call for a campaign finance reform-focused convention was passed by five Democratic states.
Even though Illinois and New Jersey withdrew their calls out of fear of a conservative convention, Uygur's organization is continuing. An illustration of the unusual alliances on both sides of the movement can be seen in Wolf PAC's early success. The RNC passed a resolution opposing the convention movement.
Proponents of the convention have political winds at their back.
Right now, the movement seems to be gaining steam. It seems to be gaining steam on both the left and right according to the senior director of international relations and federalism at ALEC. Washington, DC, has become a cause for the nation's problems rather than a solution.
The model pushed by the conservative nonprofit group Convention of States has led to 19 GOP-controlled states passing applications and calling for a convention.
Viki Harrison, director of Constitutional Convention and protecting Dissent Programs at Common Cause, told Insider that this is the first time in a long time that any of these applications have had this much movement. She said the passage of four new convention calls was a big loss.
Mark Meckler, a former Tea Party activist and ex-Parler CEO, is one of the leaders of the Citizens for Self Governance and Convention of States.
According to tax filings obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy, the groups, which are not required to disclose their donors, have received millions of dollars from the Koch-linked Donors Trust. The group obtained an internal audit of the Convention of States in 2020 that showed a donation of over one million dollars in the form of the virtual currency. The group's budget was made up of two donations.
The various parts of the movement do not yet have the math to get to 34 states. Even though Republicans will do well at the polls in the future, some people are skeptical.
David Super, a professor and constitutional law expert at Georgetown University Law Center, told Insider that the convention proponents have no path to 34 states. They've reached their limits.
Several convention organizers say they don't need a convention to change the constitution. For years, fed-up states refused to consider resolutions calling for direct election of US senators, despite the fact that it was in the best interests of the country. The 17th amendment is proof of that strategy.
One prominent Republican thinks history is repeating itself.
As we move closer to a convention of the states, Congress will probably pass the underlying amendments at the last moment. Ted Cruz, a former presidential candidate, told Insider that history shows us is likely to happen.
Cruz did not say he supported a convention.
The mechanics of a convention under the Constitution have never been called by the states.
The prospect of a free-for-all convention has scared lawmakers away from other historic efforts to rewrite the nation's Constitution, fearing that a debate on imposing term limits or a balanced budget could quickly turn into a full-fledged redesign of gun, abortion, religious, or free speech rights
Right-wing organizations such as the John Birch Society oppose a convention out of fear that it could weaken the constitution.
The author of the book "The Con of the Con-Con" is also a Trump supporter.
In states with Republican leadership, they're on our side because they're afraid of losing guns.
People who fear a runaway convention don't know what they're talking about and GOP legislatures that have resisted calling a convention out of those worries have been sold a bill of goods according to Natelson.
He said that people who have never published any scholarship on the subject are the ones who go before the legislature and say things like, "We don't know anything about the process, it could be a runaway convention."
The advocates for a constitutional convention want a convention that will prevent future delegates from passing extreme amendments. Natelson argued that not a single convention of colonies, compact of states, or simulation convention held since the nation's founding has deviated from its mandate.
The 16th Amendment, which grants Congress the ability to impose an income tax, was eviscerated at the mock convention.
The group is pushing a resolution that would limit a convention to amendments that would impose fiscal constraints on the federal government, limit its power and jurisdiction, and impose term limits on its officials.
Limits on the power and jurisdiction of the federal government could allow delegates to pass extreme amendments while technically staying within the bounds of the convention.
Super said that he wouldn't describe the amendment as one of the three things in the convention of states. Do you want to repeal the 14th amendment equal protection clause? The power of the federal government is limited. You can describe it as almost anything you want.
The need for a convention to limit federal overreach on abortion, guns, and immigration is mentioned in recent posts on the Convention of States website.
The federal courts can't get involved in amending the Constitution because the Supreme Court says it's a political question. The president isn't involved in the process at all. The purpose of the convention route is to sideline Congress. The convention cannot be overruled by Congress. No one can stop a convention from doing what they want to do.
Some states have included penalties in their calls for a convention. Indiana and Florida have made it a felony for convention delegates to ignore the legislature's intent.
Super said that the Supreme Court's 2000 ruling in Bush v. Gore doesn't mean that state officers can't perform national duties.
Legal constraints aside, Natelson argued that a runaway convention could only happen in horse and buggy times with minimal communication between delegates and legislatures, and would be "practically impossible" in a world driven by a 24 hour news cycle and instant methods of communication.
Everyone is going to be watching them and they're going to be under the glare of publicity.
A second buffer was added by the framers. The process of amending the constitution is not subject to a governor or president's veto, but three-fourths of the state legislature have to approve it.
Conservatives and liberals agree that this requirement will doom amendments that are hyperpartisan.
Nick Tomouldies, executive director of US Term Limits, said that the convention has more safeguards than Congress. You're never going to get through controversial issues like taxes and guns.
Pearson said that a convention just passing a divisive amendment would allow conservatives to play the long game and dominate the political debate in the country for the next decade.
He said it was a brilliant strategy for controlling a political agenda.
Behind closed doors, Meckler, Santorum, and Natelson pitched a convention to GOP lawmakers gathered at a December 2021.
The recording of Meckler's speech was obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy and shared with Insider.
In the session, Meckler argued that a convention only focused on term limits would not be enough to rein in the federal government.
The audio was obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy. Individual efforts don't do that. 5 million people will participate in the Convention of States if there is a full package.
Meckler said his effort could be judged by its enemies, railing against a bunch of left-wing groups who oppose a convention.
He said that the destruction of America, the destruction of babies in the womb, and the destruction of life itself are all caused by the radical left in America. They hate America, they want to destroy it, and they are against the convention of states.
Santorum said that conservative interests would be strongly represented in a one-vote-per-state convention due to the outsize influence of lower-population states.
The conservative movement isn't resting on the laurels of its victories in the Supreme Court arena, but is aggressively inventing new frontiers to remake American law and society.
Even though a no-holds-barred Constitution convention may seem far-off, the ideological fervor driving the convention movement and the ambitious aims of its proponents guarantee it won't go away anytime soon.
State legislators were given the opportunity by the founding fathers. Santorum told the lawmakers that they had been given the power to fix the country. How dare you not attempt? In the face of what is happening in this country, how dare you?
All Rights Reserved © 2024
