The State Con-Con Papers

Abstract

The State Con-Con Papers is a collection of J.H. Snider’s 47 short essays on the history, democratic function, and politics of the periodic state constitutional convention referendum, which is mandated by 14 U.S. state constitutions. The essays, organized chronologically, cover four of the most recent referendums: Hawaii (2018), New York (2017), Rhode Island (2014), and Maryland (2010). In each of these four states, the convention referendum is the only constitutional mechanism that allows the people — the sovereign — to bypass the state legislature’s gatekeeping power over constitutional amendment. The title, The State Con-Con Papers, draws an analogy with The Federalist Papers, a famous collection of newspaper commentaries that discuss the proposals generated by America’s 1787 constitutional convention.