A constitutional convention is a formal assembly with the authority to propose amendments to a constitution or draft a new one outright. Understanding how constitutional conventions work means looking at two very different tracks: a federal convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, which has never actually happened, and state-level conventions, which have been held hundreds of times and produced every state constitution now in force. Both require an outside body to ratify whatever the convention proposes, so a convention proposes, it does not enact.
What Triggers a Federal Convention
Article V of the U.S. Constitution gives two paths for proposing amendments. The familiar one runs through Congress: both chambers approve a proposed amendment by two-thirds vote and send it to the states. The second path skips Congress. When two-thirds of state legislatures, currently 34 of the 50, submit formal applications requesting a convention, Congress is required to call one. Article V uses the word “shall,” which makes the call a legal obligation rather than a political choice.1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article V
The framers built in this second route because they expected Congress would resist amendments that constrained its own power. Giving state legislatures an independent path prevents any single branch from controlling the Constitution’s future.2Constitution Annotated. ArtV.1 Overview of Article V, Amending the Constitution No federal convention has ever been triggered this way.
How States Apply and Whether They Can Withdraw
A state applies by passing a formal resolution through its legislature and transmitting it to Congress. The Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives keeps the public record of applications and any rescissions.3Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. Selected Memorials
The unresolved question is how to count them. One view holds that applications must address the same subject to add up to 34, producing a convention limited to that topic. The other view is that any valid application counts, regardless of subject, potentially producing a convention with much broader authority. No court has decided the question, and Congress has never been forced to.4Congressional Research Service. The Article V Convention to Propose Constitutional Amendments: Contemporary Issues for Congress As of early 2025, roughly 28 state legislatures had active applications for a balanced budget amendment, and a separate effort focused on term limits and fiscal restraints had 20.
Some legislatures have voted to rescind earlier applications. Whether a rescission actually removes a state from the count is itself contested. Some scholars argue states can withdraw freely before the 34-state threshold is reached; others treat a submitted application as binding, like a ratification vote. The Supreme Court in Coleman v. Miller suggested rescission disputes are political questions for Congress, not the courts.5Congressional Research Service. The Article V Convention for Proposing Constitutional Amendments
What Happens Inside the Convention
Because no federal Article V convention has ever been held, the operational details are largely theoretical. Congress has not set a framework covering delegate selection, voting rules, funding, or duration, despite considering legislative proposals on these questions between 1968 and 1992.4Congressional Research Service. The Article V Convention to Propose Constitutional Amendments: Contemporary Issues for Congress
States would pick their own delegates by whatever method their legislature chooses, whether by appointment or election, and the size of each state delegation would vary. The prevailing expectation among legal scholars is one vote per state regardless of population or delegation size, following the model of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The convention would adopt its own internal rules on debate, quorum, and presiding officer at the outset, and would operate independently of Congress, the President, and the federal courts.
Its sole constitutional power is to propose. It cannot enact amendments, sign them into law, or force any state to accept them. Everything it produces has to survive ratification separately.
The Runaway Convention Question
The largest live dispute about a federal convention is whether delegates can be confined to a single topic or could propose amendments on anything they choose. This is the “runaway convention” concern.
Supporters of a limited convention argue states can define the scope through their applications, pointing to founding-era interstate conventions that operated within boundaries set by the states that called them. Under this view, if 34 states apply for a balanced budget convention, the convention has authority over that subject only.4Congressional Research Service. The Article V Convention to Propose Constitutional Amendments: Contemporary Issues for Congress
Opponents note that nothing in Article V explicitly restricts what a convention may propose, and the most relevant precedent runs the other way. The 1787 convention was called to revise the Articles of Confederation and instead replaced them entirely.
More than a dozen states have passed “faithful delegate” laws requiring their representatives to stay within the stated scope and imposing penalties for voting on unauthorized topics. Whether such penalties would bind delegates at a constitutionally authorized convention has not been tested, and many legal scholars are skeptical they would.
How Proposed Amendments Become Law
Any amendment coming out of a convention faces the same ratification hurdle as one from Congress: approval by three-fourths of the states, currently 38 of 50.1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article V Thirteen states can block anything. That is the real safeguard against sweeping change.
Congress chooses the method of ratification. The default is approval by state legislatures, used for every amendment except the Twenty-First, which repealed Prohibition and was ratified by specially elected state conventions.2Constitution Annotated. ArtV.1 Overview of Article V, Amending the Constitution
The Archivist of the United States administers the process. After an amendment is proposed, the Archivist notifies each state governor and sends informational materials from the Office of the Federal Register. As states ratify, they return certified copies of their actions. The Archivist’s role is ministerial, verifying receipt of 38 authenticated ratifications and then issuing a formal certification, which is published in the Federal Register and the U.S. Statutes at Large.6National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process That duty is codified in federal statute.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 1 USC 106b
Congress can set a ratification deadline when it proposes or authorizes an amendment. The Supreme Court confirmed that power in Dillon v. Gloss (1921), holding that Article V implies a reasonable time frame and that a seven-year window is acceptable.8Justia. Dillon v Gloss, 256 U.S. 368 (1921) Most modern amendments have carried a seven-year deadline. When there is no deadline, an amendment can remain pending indefinitely. The Twenty-Seventh Amendment was proposed on September 25, 1789, and not ratified until May 7, 1992, more than 202 years later.9U.S. House of Representatives History, Art and Archives. The Twenty-seventh Amendment Whether too much time has elapsed is itself a political question for Congress under Coleman v. Miller.
State Constitutional Conventions
State conventions are a different creature. They operate under state constitutions and state law, not Article V, and their scope is typically much broader. Where a federal convention would propose specific amendments, state conventions have regularly produced entirely new constitutions, rebuilding court systems, tax frameworks, and governance structures from scratch. Every state constitution in force today is either the product of a convention or the descendant of one.
The most recent state constitutional convention was held in Rhode Island in 1986. Delegates considered hundreds of resolutions and placed 14 questions on the ballot; eight passed and six failed. No state has held a full convention since.
How State Conventions Get Triggered
Fourteen states require a periodic ballot question asking voters whether to hold a constitutional convention. Five put the question up every 10 years, one every 16 years, and eight every 20 years. If a majority approves, the state must begin organizing a convention.
Voters almost always say no. New York rejected its most recent convention question in 2017 by roughly 83% to 17%. Alaska voters turned it down in 2012 with about 67% opposed. No state has approved a mandatory convention referendum since Rhode Island in 1984.
States without a mandatory referendum can still hold a convention if the legislature votes to call one. That route does not require voter approval to start, but the convention’s output nearly always goes before voters for ratification. That final vote is the democratic check that keeps delegates from unilaterally rewriting a state’s fundamental law.