Push to amend the Constitution could expand Trump’s power.
Push to amend the Constitution could expand Trump’s power.

While it's focused on national debt, legal experts say it could open the door to other changes, such as limiting who can be a U.S. citizen.

- A behind-the-scenes effort to force Congress to call a convention to amend the Constitution could end up helping President Donald Trump in his push to expand presidential power — or even run for a third term.
- The effort to amend the Constitution predates Trump’s second term but carries new weight as several members of the president’s inner circle have expressed support for a convention to limit federal government spending and power.
- A draft lawsuit obtained by WisconsinWatch and ProPublica argues Congress must call a convention. Liberal and conservative legal scholars have criticized the arguments in it, calling them “wild,” “completely illegitimate” and “deeply flawed.”
- Some states’ requests for a constitutional convention date back centuries. “It is absurd, on the face of it, that they could count something that had to do with Prohibition as a call for a constitutional convention in 2025,” former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, said.