Tenth, at the time and place called for, and under temporary officers set forth in the call, the delegates should meet, approve credentials, choose permanent officers, adopt their own rules, propose amendments, debate, enact, and otherwise function in accordance with the call. Eleventh, a majority of the Convention delegates, assuming a quorum present, should be sufficient to determine organizational and procedural rules and matters, but at least two-thirds of those present and voting should be required to pass amendments to be proposed for ratification. Twelfth, the Convention should, as part of its organizational rules, provide that all proposed amendments be forwarded to the appropriate congressional officials so designated for the purpose of processing amendments proposed by Congress, and also that a time limit of seven years be set within which the proposals may be ratified. Moreover, the call by Congress should contain appropriate parallel requirements. Thirteenth, the mode of ratification being left to Congress, the call should contain this choice and, as a matter of policy, ratification should be by the state legislatures. Fourteenth, the call should also contain a provision that proper certificates of ratification are to be filed with the Administrator of General Services, and that he, in turn, when the required number of proper certificates is received by him, is to make due proclamation thereof. Finally, given the importance of the congressional call in view of the role it plays with regard to substantive and procedural matters before and after the Convention, the following is submitted as a form that may well be adopted by Congress: A PROPOSED CALL BY CONGRESS Whereas pursuant to article V of the Constitution of the United States at least two-thirds of the Legislatures of the several States of the United States have duly and validly made proper and timely application to the Congress of the United States to call a Convention for proposing amendments to the said Constitution, namely, the States of . . .; be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Joint Resolution be and be required to be considered as and is a call, pursuant to article V of the Constitution of the United States, for a Convention for proposing amendments to the said Constitution as is more fully set forth hereafter. Sec. 2. This Joint Resolution is directed to be duly forwarded by the appropriate officers of both Houses of this Congress to the appropriate officials of each of the several States of the United States within five (5) days after it is approved. Sec. 3. The appropriate officials of each of the several States of the United States shall thereafter take such action and perform such acts as may be required by or in consonance with their applicable laws to enforce and comply with this Joint Resolution and call. Sec. 4. No later than [date] each of the said States is to conduct a special election for the sole purpose of electing delegates to said Convention, in accordance with each State's duly enacted or to be enacted laws, Provided, however, that at least thirty days elapse between final nominations for delegates and the election; that the number of delegates elected be equal to the number of Congressmen each said State is then represented by with one to be chosen within each Congressional district within said State plus two at-large; that the qualifications of the voters for delegates be no different than those required for the more numerous body of the State's legislature; that delegates are to possess the qualifications required of a member of the House of Representatives of the United States at the time of convening; and that all statutes of the United States and the several States disqualifying a person for public office because he then holds another public office shall not apply except as to the judges and justices of the United States. Sec. 5. The delegates so duly elected and properly certified shall meet on the [date] at [place, building, hall] in Washington, District of Columbia, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, present their credentials to the temporary secretary who is hereby designated as [name or office], meet under the temporary chairmanship of [name or office], and when at least a majority thereof is so assembled then duly and regularly organize and deliberate for the purpose for which called, Provided, however, that any amendments to the Constitution of the United States which may be proposed shall receive the approval of at least two-thirds of the members then present and voting at the said Convention. Sec. 6. The said Convention may authorize and direct that all such proposed amendments be forwarded to the appropriate officials designated by the Congress of the United States for the purpose of forwarding to the States amendments proposed by the said Convention, and said officials are hereby authorized and directed so to act and forward said proposed amendments within five (5) days after receipt thereof, together with a copy of the section following. Sec. 7. All such proposed amendments shall be inoperative unless they shall have been ratified as amendments to the Constitution by the legislatures of [or by conventions in] the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission thereof to the States. Sec. 8. Copies of all said ratifications, properly and duly authenticated and certified, shall be forwarded to and filed with the Administrator of General Services of the United States who is hereby authorized and directed to receive and file the same and, when the required number thereof pursuant to article V of the Constitution has been so received and filed, shall make appropriate proclamation thereof. Sec. 9. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated not more than [$] for necessary expenses in conducting and defraying the costs of such Convention, but none of these moneys is to be used for any travel, pay, allowances or like purposes of any delegates to or member of such Convention.104 104. If there is any question concerning the necessity for a statute, requiring the President's signature, this can be easily accomplished. However, does this mean that the President may veto the Convention? Or that if two-thirds of Congress cannot be mustered the Convention will not be held? It is suggested that here, if at all, is a justification for an appropriation by Joint Resolution, without such a signature being required. (North Dakota Law Review 1979) AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION BY THE ARTICLE V CONVENTION METHOD DOUGLAS G. Voegler* I. INTRODUCTION Article V of the United States Constitution reads as follows: The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall Two methods of amending the Constitution are provided for in this Article. Under one method, the amendment is initiated by Congress. Under the alternative method, Congress, after being petitioned by the states, calls a convention to propose amendments. Since our Constitution was adopted in 1787, it has been amended only twenty-six times. If the first ten amendments, the Bill of B. A., University of Nebraska. 1973; J. D., University of Nebraska — Lincoln School of Law, 1976; former law clerk, Honorable Paul W. White, Chief Justice, Nebraska Supreme Court. 1. U.S. CONST. art. V. The "Authorization to Sell Reserved Mineral Interests to Surface Owners" ignores two already existent solutions to the conflicts in surface development with reserved mineral rights. The land developer is, like any other citizen, free under the mining laws to locate mining claims in good faith. He must do the required annual assessment work thereafter, but such assessment work provides for exploration and development work on a gradual and continuing basis," which is precluded by selling the mineral rights at a point in time when an existent mineral value may be much lower than the value future circumstances and developments could realize. The second solution possible under present mining laws is a withdrawal of the land from mineral entry. If the surface development of public land is desirable, Congress has the power to withdraw that piece of land from mineral entry. But just as the courts have found it easier to entrust the mining laws to land agencies, so the Congress puts up little resistance to easing its responsibilities with regard to withdrawing public land from mineral entry. The despotism of administrative law fills the void at the expense of all the practicality inherent in American mining law. Without the mining laws, which are our heritage, we will be without a true and tested system of mineral development. Administrative law is already without representation from mineral development people, without judicial control, and without the immediate desire to develop minerals. Lacking these, the liquidators of our mineral wealth can not truly concern themselves with a better system. A triumph for the "rule of man" in the Department of the Interior is no triumph for Man. 55. Mining Law, 30 U.S.C.. $28 (1872); See generally: Mining Rights on the Public Domain, supra, note 25, at 108-137. Rights, (which were adopted almost simultaneously with the adoption of the Constitution, and can therefore be considered a part of the original document) are excluded from this count, the Constitution has been amended a mere sixteen times in nearly two hundred years. To date, all of the amendments to the Constitution have been proposed by Congress. There has never been a constitutional convention, "despite the fact that in the years since the Constitution was ratified... [several hundred] resolutions have been submitted to Congress by the States calling for national constitutional conventions.''? The Article V convention method has been called a "constitutional curiosity," the forgotten part of the article,* and “[o]ne of the best-known 'dead letter' clauses in the federal Constitution."'s While there has never been a constitutional convention, the Article V provision has not been without effect in our nation's history. During the ratification of the Constitution, the AntiFederalists expressed concern that the Constitution did not contain any provisions for the protection of certain basic rights of mankind. Virginia and New York petitioned Congress to call a convention to deal with this perceived defect. This led to Congress' proposing, in 1789, the Bill of Rights to quell these concerns." At the turn of the century, public agitation grew for an amendment to the Constitution for the direct election of Senators. On several occasions between 1893 and 1902, the House of Representatives had passed resolutions calling for such an amendment. The Senate, naturally reluctant to propose an amendment which would place in jeopardy the tenure of its current members, refused to act. After a significant number of states petitioned Congress for a constitutional convention to deal with the problem, Congress, afraid of the peoples' 2. Cominent, Amendment by Convention, Our Next Constitutional Crisis?. 53 N.C.L. Rev. 491 (1975) (hereinafter cited as Comment]. For a comprehensive list and analysis of the state resolutions calling for a constitutional convention see American Bar Association Special Constitutional Convention Study Ce amittee. Amendment of the Constitution By the Convention Method Under Article 1' App. B. at 59-77 (1974) (hereinafter cited as A.B.A. Study). 3. Comment, supra note 2. at 492. 4. Dirksen. The Supreme Court and the People. 66 Mich. L. Rev. 837 (1968) [hereinafter cited as Dirksen. 5. Dixon, Artide V· The Comatose Article of Our Living Constitution?, 66 Mich. L. REV. 931, 943 (1968) [hereinafter cited as Dixon]. 6 Comment, supra note 2. at 499, 7. Ser A.R.A. Study, supra note 2, at 69-70, |