My newest piece on the American Spectator: After a long and brilliant career, Phyllis Schlafly has taken a terribly wrong turn. Throughout her career she has accomplished so much good. But today, she stands firmly on the side of a huge, unfettered, unconstitutional federal leviathan, along with the icon of the pro-abortion movement, the late Chief Justice Warren Burger. It makes sense that someone like Burger, who gave us Roe v. Wade, might oppose efforts to restrain a corrupt federal government. However, Schlafly’s opposition is a baffling deviation from her lifetime of activism. Based on a single letter from this activist justice, Phyllis Schlafly stands against the American people and their right and obligation to act to restrain the federal government through an Article V amending convention. The Burger/Schlafly argument is on the wrong side of history—both factually and philosophically. Both contend that a Convention of States would be dangerous because it might go “runaway.” In other words, such a convention might consider issues and propose amendments beyond the scope of authority granted by the states in their applications for a convention. This argument is actually based on defamation against the Framers of the Constitution. In fact, Schlafly has argued for years that the Constitution itself was the result of a “runaway convention.” Read what Constitutional experts say about Schlafly’s position here.
