On the opening day of the Wyoming Legislature, state Sen. Eric Barlow (R-Gillette) said he takes his oath of office seriously.
“And that oath of office says, ‘You're going to uphold the Constitution of Wyoming and the United States,’” Barlow said, sitting on the second floor in the Wyoming Capitol.
He is one of many conservatives across the country who want to alter the U.S. Constitution, which hasn’t been amended for a generation. Barlow’s proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 1, is flying through the Wyoming Legislature.
The goal? Limit federal power in three ways:
“Term limits for federal officials, restraint on federal spending, and then just restraint on regulation, if you will,” he explained.
Barlow is part of a movement called the Convention of States, which invokes Article V of the Constitution. Amendments have always come from Congress, but Article V says they can also come from state legislatures through a convention.
Supporters of the movement want to bring power back to the states.
“This would be about as direct a democracy as you can get,” said Barlow, adding that several hundred of his constituents contact him regularly to push for this.
According to the Constitution, at least 34 states, or two-thirds of all states, have to call for a convention for one to happen. Over the past decade, 19 have signed up, including Utah and Arizona. This year, Idaho and New Mexico could also join.
Thirty-eight states, or three-quarters, would still have to ratify any proposed amendments, but many still fear this process could derail — even destroy — the Constitution as Americans know it.
“Even if we're called on a particular topic, could it be a runaway convention?” asked Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.
He said this method has never been tested. The founding fathers called the last convention in 1787.
“They decided not to amend the Articles of Confederation, but to draft a whole new Constitution,” Chemerinsky said. “Everyone’s afraid [of] what might happen now.”
As President Donald Trump tests the boundaries of executive powers, many scholars believe a constitutional crisis is already afoot.
Chemerinsky agrees with those who think the Constitution could be more reflective of the times, but he worries a convention like this wouldn’t be bipartisan amid so many political divisions.
The Wyoming League of Women Voters’ Marguerite Herman said a convention, if called, would send one representative per state to speak for all the residents. She worries about representation for a long list of issues.
“Freedom of speech, civil rights, civil liberties, privacy rights, the guarantee of equal protection under the law, the right to vote, immigration issues, the right to counsel and a jury,” Herman listed.
Amid all these concerns, Convention of States supporters are trying to prove they could keep a convention reigned in and focus on a tight agenda.
They’ve held simulated events — think Model UN, except for lawmakers from across the country. The last one was in 2023 in Colonial Williamsburg.
In between interludes of patriotic music, Republican Representative Ken Ivory of Utah set the tone, standing in front of a giant American flag and addressing a sea of suits.
“We have a machine that's out of balance,” Ivory said. “Doesn't matter who drives the machine anymore. Doesn't matter if they drive the machine to the left or drive the machine to the right. The machine is blowing smoke. It's losing parts. It's time to put the machine in the repair shop and change the oil, tune it up, so we got another 245 years to go.”
Convention-goers then vote to create new term limits for Congress, balance the budget and rein in federal powers over commerce.
“43 yays, 5 nays, and the proposal has been approved,” said Convention President Woody Jenkins, as he banged a gavel. “This simulated convention of states has proposed an amendment to the Constitution and this is how it would work.”
Of course, if a convention really happened, three-quarters of all the states, including those that did not push for a convention, would still have to ratify any new amendments.
In Wyoming, this final check gives Barlow confidence.
“I think it's going to be hard for anything to get adopted, amended into the Constitution that doesn't have very broad support across the country,” he said.
Barlow traveled around the country to meet with Constitutional experts to make sure of this.
“I didn't just come up with this and say, ‘Oh, this is a great idea, I understand it and everything,’” he said.
As the sun set on the Legislature’s opening day, Barlow emphasized that this is what many Wyomingites want, and he took an oath to listen to that.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
