Assessing the Benefits and Risks of Constitutional Conventions: Insights from America's State Constitutional Tradition

Drawing on the 250 state constitutional conventions held in the United States, I consider whether conventions have achieved the benefits touted by supporters and avoided the risks highlighted by critics. Conventions have frequently achieved reforms unattainable through other processes and enabled a comprehensive review of proposed changes and their relation to existing provisions. The historical record provides little support for concerns about runaway conventions enacting measures unanticipated and unsupported by the public. The expectation that conventions will submit their work for public approval provides a powerful incentive for delegates to refrain from recommending reforms that run counter to public preferences, especially because voters have frequently exercised their veto power to reject convention-recommended changes.Drawing on the 250 state constitutional conventions held in the United States, I consider whether conventions have achieved the benefits touted by supporters and avoided the risks highlighted by critics.

Conventions have frequently achieved reforms unattainable through other processes and enabled a comprehensive review of proposed changes and their relation to existing provisions. The historical record provides little support for concerns about runaway conventions enacting measures unanticipated and unsupported by the public. The expectation that conventions will submit their work for public approval provides a powerful incentive for delegates to refrain from recommending reforms that run counter to public preferences, especially because voters have frequently exercised their veto power to reject convention-recommended changes.