News Clips

Viki Harrison, director of constitutional convention programs at Common Cause, said her organization supports efforts to curb gun violence, but she said calling a convention “could put all of our civil rights up for grabs.” “A constitutional convention is not the way to go and could actually make reducing gun violence worse at the end of the day because gun interests could re-write the constitution,” she told The Washington Times. “With no rules in place, and many convention proponents advocating for the same number of delegates per state, gun control would not be the topic taken up at a convention.”

Rewriting the constitution to favor the rich won’t just take away civil liberties but could literally dissolve the United States itself. Everything from the second Amendment to civil rights could be a thing of the past if we don’t stop the Article 5 convention to end the US Constitution. Thom discusses the threat with Viki Harrison Common Cause Director of Constitutional Convention and Protecting Dissent Programs.

"We also know hearing what the opposition is talking about that they are going to be hitting every state that they can think of," Viki Harrison, director of Constitutional Convention and Protecting Dissent Programs at Common Cause, told Insider. Harrison and others involved in trying to thwart the movement have said that the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has fundamentally changed how Americans respond to this issue. While the high court has no role in a convention, Harrison said people are now aware that major changes to fundamental rights can occur. "We're talking about rights about Americans have taken for granted," Harrison said. "I think that is what has woken the public up and why I am talking to way more about this this year than last year ."

On Sunday, Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn told MSNBC that in the hands of Republicans, a second constitutional convention could "put all of our constitutional rights up for grabs."

Nonprofit government watchdog group Common Cause has been one of Wolf PAC's leading opponents, successfully lobbying behind the scenes to convince state lawmakers that any constitutional convention — no matter its stated purpose — lead to chaos and unintended consequences. Common Cause also opposes a conservative-led effort to call for a constitutional convention that aims to significantly limit the size of the federal government and advance other conservative priorities. "If you think the Constitution is bad now, how do you feel when Lauren [Boebert] and Marjorie [Taylor Greene] and Ted [Cruz] rewrite it? It would just be so much worse," Viki Harrison, director of constitutional convention and protecting dissent programs at Common Cause, told Insider. "It really hasn't gained much traction, but I'm getting a little nervous about it, quite frankly."

"What we're seeing now, that we haven't really seen before, is people putting money into it. The Mark Mecklers of the world are putting money into it," Viki Harrison, director of Constitutional Convention and Protecting Dissent Programs at Common Cause, told Insider.  Meckler's groups, Convention of States Action and Citizens for Self Governance, have received millions of dollars from groups including the Koch-connected DonorsTrust, the Mercer Family Foundation, and groups connected to powerful conservative lawyer Leonard Leo, tax filings obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy show. "It's the first time any of these applications have had this much movement in quite some time," said Harrison, who lobbies against the convention movement in statehouses across the country.