During a recent OpenSky webinar, a Georgetown University Law Professor and a member of the Eagle Forum of California both warned of the dangers of LR 14 – a measure being debated by Nebraska lawmakers today.

LR 14 would have Nebraska join a list of states calling for a Constitutional Convention to enact fiscal restraints on the federal government, enact congressional term limits and limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government. The OpenSky webinar presenters warned that such a convention could not be controlled.

“Things could be worse, believe it or not,” said Judi Caler with the Eagle Forum. “We could have a tyrannical constitution with a new ratification process imposed on us.”

There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that limits the topics that could be addressed in a Constitutional Convention, said Georgetown Law Professor David Super, noting that our current political climate makes the prospect of a convention deeply concerning.

Super and Caler both said that under Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress, not the states, would be in charge of launching the convention.

Super also said Congress would control how convention delegates are chosen and it could lead to a scenario where more populated states have more control and voting power in government moving forward.

Depending on how applications for a Constitutional Convention are counted, the country could be closer to a convention becoming a reality than some realize, the panelists said.

Presently, 27 states have active applications tied to the current push for a Constitutional Convention and 34 states need to have applications for Congress to call a convention. Some are urging Congress to count some applications that are more than a century old and unrelated to the topics of the current push for a Convention. If that happened, Super noted the number of states with active applications could be up to 32 states.

LR 14 also was the focus of a recent op-ed by former state senators Kathy Campbell, Mike Gloor and John Harms. They wrote that the balanced budget amendment sought by LR 14 supporters threatens our state and national ability to respond to emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read their full opinion piece here.

Debate on LR 14 is being streamed by Nebraska Public Media.