Good afternoon, Chairman Lakey and committee members. My name is Kendal Shaber and I am speaking on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Idaho and its members. We in the League are opposed to SCR112 and feel that there are many unresolved questions about the powers and processes of an Article V Constitutional Convention that make this resolution dangerous to the US Constitution, which you have all taken an oath to uphold.

Since there is no language in the U.S. Constitution to limit a convention to one issue, the fear of a “runaway convention” is real. Which hard fought and won civil rights and liberties are you willing to lose?

Additionally, there are no guidelines in the Constitution governing the process. How would delegates be selected? How would the American people be represented? What rules would apply? How would legal disputes be settled? And how would the influence of special interests be limited?

There are reasons why organizations as disparate as The John Birch Society and the Eagle Forum and the ACLU and the AFL-CIO actively oppose the idea of an Article V Constitutional Convention. Perhaps the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia summed it up best, in 2014, when asked about amending the constitution, he replied:

“I certainly would not want a Constitutional Convention. I mean whoa. Who knows what would come out of that?”

Please say no to the special interests behind this effort to rewrite the US Constitution.

Submitted on 02-19-2024 to the Idaho Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee