State senator’s push for constitutional convention opposed
By Marie Price
The Daily Record Newswire
OKLAHOMA CITY – The principal author of Senate Joint Resolution 4 favors a national constitutional convention limited to specific issues. But a colleague across the state Capitol rotunda, a fellow conservative, is adamantly opposed and successfully fought against such a move last session.
State Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman, backs the call for a convention of the states, an idea he said he has favored for several years. The idea is backed this year by a national organization.
He has filed a companion measure, Senate Bill 53, which establishes requirements for delegates, votes and related issues.
Standridge’s resolution would limit a convention to proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution to impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress.
“Probably the most likely outcome of any of these efforts would be a balanced-budget amendment,” he said. “You have to have 38 states to ratify whatever comes out of one of these conventions, just like they have to ratify something that comes out of Congress.”
Standridge said there is also some support in other states for federal term limits.
“Whether they were very sincere about it or not, Congress has passed their own term limits,” he said. “Of course it’s been thrown out by the Supreme Court, because it’s been viewed that an amendment would be required to really put that into force.”
There are other issues Standridge favors, such as limiting U.S. Supreme Court power, but he sees less of a chance for their ratification.
“Supreme Court rulings, a lot of them are legislative in nature, which is not what our founders intended, although they did certainly say that the Supreme Court had final jurisdiction on constitutionality,” he said.
Standridge lists the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, as one example of what he means by a legislative decision by the justices.
When it comes to the separation of powers, Standridge reiterated that such a proposal would be limited to court decisions that make legislative interpretations.
“Such decisions directly affect the states,” he said. “That branch of our government, I think most citizens would say, may be much more far-reaching than was originally intended. I think they probably have a valid point there.”
Standridge does not accept the argument made by some that the proposal would result in a runaway convention. That term is used to describe a meeting that starts with one purpose but ends up creating greater changes. Some argue that the 1787 convention that drafted the current Constitution itself was a runaway, he said.
American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel said the 1787 convention was called to amend the Articles of Confederation, but resulted in throwing them out and drafting an entirely new document.
“That’s a distortion of the truth, at a minimum,” Standridge said. “They actually did exactly what they were asked to do.”
State Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, opposes a convention. He worked against such an effort last year.
“Rather than destroy the Constitution, which many believe this will destroy it and we’ll have to start over with a new constitution, just enforce the Constitution,” Ritze said Monday. “That’s why I’ve been such an adamant supporter of states’ rights and other things along the lines of supporting the Constitution and reining in the out-of-control budgetary problems Congress fails to do.”
States have an existing option for dealing with actions by the federal government, he said
“States can step up with the 10th Amendment and ignore so many of the federal mandates,” Ritze said. “If it’s not in the enumerated powers article, Section 8, then we just ignore it.”
Ritze said the same reasoning lies behind a letter he and some other legislators sent to Attorney General Scott Pruitt last week opposing a federal lawsuit filed by Oklahoma and Nebraska asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Colorado’s law ending the prohibition of marijuana in that state. The lawmakers oppose marijuana, he said.
“But the issue there is a states’ rights issue, once again,” he said.
Unlike Standridge, Ritze thinks a runaway convention could very well be the outcome of the convention effort.
“There is no way that this can be controlled,” he said.
Kiesel voiced similar concerns.
“I think that inviting a convention of this sort is very risky,” he said. “The idea that a state legislature or even Congress could control what a convention would actually consider whenever they convened is not an accurate reflection of how conventions have played out in the past.”
Ritze said that Standridge matching the SJR with SB 53, which would make it a misdemeanor for Oklahoma delegates to violate their instructions and go rogue, will not work.
“All Congress has to do is pass their own bill giving all delegates immunity from arrest for misdemeanors during the convention,” he said, adding that a similar bill passed the U.S. Senate decades ago when the nation came close to having enough states apply for a constitutional convention.
Officials with the Convention of the States, a project of Citizens for Self-Governance, did not respond to a request for comment. The CSG was founded by Mark Meckler, who was previously co-founded the Tea Party Patriots.
