10 states line up to limit federal power

Ten states now have taken the first step toward limiting the power of the federal government.

Officials from Arizona, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming have filed resolutions calling for a convention of states that would propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution with the express purpose of limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.

Article V of the Constitution gives the states the power to call such a convention. The article reads, in part:

“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress.”

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