The People Made Me Do it: Can the People of the States Instruct and Coerce Their State Legislatures in the Article V Constitutional Amendment Process?

30 Pages Posted: 23 Nov 2011

See all articles by Vikram D. Amar

Vikram D. Amar

University of California, Davis - School of Law; University of Illinois College of Law

Date Written: March 1, 2000

Abstract

In 1998, California voters enacted Proposition 225, a law that implicates a host of deep constitutional issues — namely, federalism, popular sovereignty, congressional term limits, and the federal constitutional amendment process. As expected, last summer the California Supreme Court invalidated the measure as violating Article V of the United States Constitution.

This essay addresses the constitutionality of a nationwide movement of which California’s experience is but one small part. By focusing on the text of Article V, I will argue that as there are historical as well as structural and practical arguments supporting my argument that it was not designed to interfere with the preexisting control that people enjoyed in their state legislatures.

Suggested Citation

Amar, Vikram D., The People Made Me Do it: Can the People of the States Instruct and Coerce Their State Legislatures in the Article V Constitutional Amendment Process? (March 1, 2000). William & Mary Law Review, Vol. 41, No. 3, p. 1037, 2000, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1963405

Vikram D. Amar (Contact Author)

University of California, Davis - School of Law ( email )

Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall
Davis, CA CA 95616-5201
United States

University of Illinois College of Law

504 E. Pennsylvania Avenue
Champaign, IL 61820
United States

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