Program Information

34 states, under our current system of 50 states, can request that the Congress call a Constitutional Convention. Congress has no leeway. It must call a Constitutional Convention. And it really has no role in that Constitutional Convention. That’s up to the states.

The United States Constitution has been the foundation for the United States government and its citizens for over two hundred years. Many people believe it is the “gold standard” for fledgling democracies all over the world. It calls for the citizens to be active and for government to be accountable to those they govern. Many historians believe the Constitution has made our nation as successful and as powerful as it is; however, many of our citizens have not read or do not understand the Constitution and the foundation of our government. “Questioning the Constitution” looks at the development of the constitution, how it has been interpreted and questions whether the constitution should be reformed. This one-hour documentary was produced by WCVE PBS in partnership with the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Transcript

SABATO: The founders wanted to see some limitations on Congress. So in Article V they provided us with a second means of amendment. And really for many of the founders it was the preferred means of amendment. It was to provide the states with direct access to changing the Constitution. 34 states, under our current system of 50 states, can request that the Congress call a Constitutional Convention. Congress has no leeway. It must call a Constitutional Convention. And it really has no role in that Constitutional Convention. That’s up to the states. So, the Constitutional Convention because the preeminent authority, not Congress. You could never get an end to gerrymandering the distortion of districts that favor the incumbents through Congress. Of course they would never agree to that because it would threaten their re-elections. The only way we’ll ever end gerrymandering really is through a Constitutional Convention. When individual delegates representing the states can take over the process and submit amendments to the 50 states asking 38 of them to ratify.

ADKINS: And the Census of 2000 identified 4.1 million Native Americans and Alaskan Natives. When you look in the Constitution, do you see 1.4% of our people represented? There needs to be some mechanism that can ensure that the representative government is representative of all the people within the government. Objective redistricting would accomplish that. I think it’s time for another Convention. You know the basics still remain sound, but I think we need to take another look.

STROSSEN: One of the things I fear about having a Constitutional Convention in a time of crisis is that the momentary concerns, understandable momentary concerns about national security, will pressure people, persuade them, to make massive changes in the basic structure that would compromise individual rights and equality rights and expand the power of the executive for the future, not just for this temporary, passing crisis.

BOND: I have an innate fear of Constitutional Conventions because I’ve always thought that if we call a Constitutional Convention let’s say to re-write the Second Amendment, that the re-writers wouldn’t stop there. And they’d rewrite something that I think is absolutely perfect and change it to something that was harmful and bad. So, flawed as it may be, I’m willing to have it stay as-is until I can have, hear, a convincing argument that will change only this bad thing or only make this unclear thing more clear than it is now and we won’t do anything else. If I could have that assurance, I’d say go ahead.

SABATO: People forget that a Constitutional Convention is not the final word. The states are always the final word. Every single word change of the Constitution coming out of a Constitutional Convention must be submitted to the 50 states, and 38 states must approve. How many Democratic blue states are there? There are 18. How many Republican red states are there? There’re 24. The other states being competitive and purple. Well, if the Democratic states hang together, as they would to defeat any conservative change, nothing will be ratified. If the 24 Republican states stay together to defeat any liberal change, nothing from the left will be ratified. So much of the fear that people have about a runaway convention is just insane. It’s absolutely untrue. It’s not justified by the facts. It is our fear of the future and it has become our fear of one another.

LEVINSON: I’d much rather have somebody look me in the eye and say, “You know, I think we have a terrific Constitution. I think the Electoral College is great. I like the Senate and the unequal representation. So everything you think is a weakness, I think is a strength.” I’d obviously disagree with that person, but I’d rather have somebody tell me that than say, “You know, I think you’re probably right. You really have identified a lot of weaknesses in our political structure. But you know, I just don’t have enough faith in my fellow Americans that they’re capable of being as temperate and rational as you and I are.”

SABATO: I think a Constitutional Convention is inevitable at some point. When that point will be, no one can say. It may be after a crisis. It may be a very unsuccessful foreign war or a terrible depression. There may be something that triggers a reexamination of American society. But we hope the American republic goes on forever. For centuries and centuries. And at some point, the system frankly is going to deteriorate enough so that intelligent citizens will demand a new Convention.

Virginia Standards