Congressional Records are part of the Constitution as it mandates both legislative bodies maintain records. These public records show 49 states have cast over 750 applications for the Article V Convention and one Congress after another (currently the 114th) has simply ignored its constitutional duty to count existing applications in order to issue the call. In other words, the Congress is altering our form of government by unconstitutional means.
Over the decades members of Congress and judges and scholars and professors have debated the validity of the existing applications on record, yet there are no terms or conditions present in Article V, and no congressional legislation nor any Supreme Court ruling has ever altered that fact. The Constitution does not instruct that the states shall apply for the same subject, nor apply within a set amount of years, but that by the letter and spirit of the law, it is based on an objective, numeric count.
After multiple reports over the past three years by the Congressional Research Service, informing members of the facts, the Congress has attempted to bury the legality of the situation into politics and bureaucracy. At present, based on letters signed and dated, the National Archives and Records Administration has claimed it does not have time to search records for applications (in order for them to be officially enrolled as a federal document, in order for Congress to count them). In fact Representative Goodlatte, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, recently tasked with counting state applications, has taken to posting a few, referring to them as purported or unofficial. In other words, the Congress is failing to instruct NARA to seek, find, and officially enroll all existing state applications post haste. To do otherwise is to fail to faithfully support the Constitution and is a criminal violation of 5 U.S.C. 7311.
Whether the 114th Congress and the House Judiciary Committee are overthrowing our form of government by purposefully feigning ignorance, or are distracted, or are incapable of recognizing the matter for what it is--it matters not. The overthrow of our form of government is not going to happen in the future, but has already happened and will exist until a convention is called. Therefore every moment a member of any current Congress is not actively engaged in the pursuit of the call, in their official capacity, they are engaged in federal criminal activity by failing to act.
Congressional Records--the public record--shows that the states have legally satisfied the convention clause of Article V. No amendment or alteration to it has ever occurred. The current Congress is altering our form of government by unconstitutional means. Perhaps all Americans can agree it's time for this huge, regionalized country to come to the table to find the things that 75%+ can agree on--like taking private money out of public elections so that elected officials can become public servants.
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