HF 3691

as introduced - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             stating findings of the Legislature; voiding all 
  1.3             previous applications by the Legislature of the State 
  1.4             of Minnesota to the Congress of the United States of 
  1.5             America to call a convention pursuant to Article V of 
  1.6             the United States Constitution for proposing one or 
  1.7             more amendments to that Constitution and urging the 
  1.8             legislatures of other states to do the same. 
  1.9      
  1.10     WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Minnesota, acting 
  1.11  with the best of intentions, has, at various times, and during 
  1.12  various sessions, previously made applications to the Congress 
  1.13  of the United States of America to call one or more conventions 
  1.14  to propose either a single amendment concerning a specific 
  1.15  subject or to call a general convention to propose an 
  1.16  unspecified and unlimited number of amendments to the United 
  1.17  States Constitution, under Article V of the Constitution; and 
  1.18     WHEREAS, former Justice of the United States of America 
  1.19  Warren E. Burger, former Associate Justice of the United States 
  1.20  Supreme Court Arthur J. Goldberg, and other leading 
  1.21  constitutional scholars agree that such a convention may propose 
  1.22  sweeping changes to the Constitution, any limitations or 
  1.23  restrictions purportedly imposed by the states in applying for 
  1.24  such a convention or conventions to the contrary 
  1.25  notwithstanding, thereby creating an imminent peril to the 
  1.26  well-established rights of the citizens and the duties of 
  1.27  various levels of government; and 
  2.1      WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States of America 
  2.2   has been amended many times in the history of this nation and 
  2.3   may be amended many more times, without the need to resort to a 
  2.4   constitutional convention, and has been interpreted for more 
  2.5   than two hundred years and has been found to be a sound document 
  2.6   which protects the lives and liberties of the citizens; and 
  2.7      WHEREAS, there is no need for, and there is great danger 
  2.8   in, a new constitution or in the opening of the present 
  2.9   Constitution to sweeping changes, the adoption of which would 
  2.10  only create legal chaos in this nation and only begin the 
  2.11  process of another two centuries of litigation over its meaning 
  2.12  and interpretation; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.13     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.14  that the Legislature memorializes the United States Congress of 
  2.15  the Legislature's intent to cancel, nullify, and supersede to 
  2.16  the same effect as if they had never been passed, any extant 
  2.17  applications by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota to the 
  2.18  Congress of the United States of America to call a convention to 
  2.19  propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States of 
  2.20  America, pursuant to the terms of Article V, regardless of when 
  2.21  or by which session or sessions of the Minnesota Legislature 
  2.22  those applications were made and regardless of whether the 
  2.23  applications were for a limited convention to propose one or 
  2.24  more amendments regarding one or more specific subjects and 
  2.25  purposes or for a general convention to propose an unlimited 
  2.26  number of amendments upon an unlimited number of subjects. 
  2.27     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislature of the State 
  2.28  of Minnesota urges the legislatures of every state which has 
  2.29  applied to Congress to call a convention for either a general or 
  2.30  a limited constitutional convention, to repeal and withdraw 
  2.31  those applications. 
  2.32     AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of 
  2.33  the State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.34  memorial and transmit them to the Secretary of State, to the 
  2.35  presiding officers of both houses of the Legislatures of each 
  2.36  state in the Union, to the president of the United States 
  3.1   Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of 
  3.2   Representatives, to the administrator of General Services, 
  3.3   Washington, D.C., and to Minnesota's senators and 
  3.4   representatives in Congress.