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   Steve Bellovin (stevebellovin@mastodon.lawprofs.org)'s status on Wednesday, 31-May-2023 00:25:46 JST Steve Bellovin

   I've been mulling how the GOP fascists could legally destroy the Constitution, and now I'm even more scared. The image below describes the amendment procedure. I think there are only 13 safely blue states, partly due to gerrymandering. That means that 34 states—⅔ of 50—could call a Constitutional Convention. But what about the ¾ for ratification? Turns out that Texas can (probably) split into five states (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/more-150-years-texas-has-had-power-secede-itself-180962354/). Add gerrymandering, and you have 54 states, 41 pretty red…
   Oops.

   • Paul Cantrell repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Blake E. Reid 🍍🍕🥫🏁 (blakereid@mastodon.lawprofs.org)'s status on Wednesday, 31-May-2023 00:25:44 JST Blake E. Reid 🍍🍕🥫🏁

     in reply to

     @SteveBellovin the only way in which this is scary is if Democrats continue to labor under the delusion that this sort of thing is happening as a function of the rule of law and respond accordingly. You can’t lawyer your way out of Calvinball.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 31-May-2023 00:30:27 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Blake E. Reid 🍍🍕🥫🏁

     @blakereid @SteveBellovin
     I’m with Blake on this one: complete constitutional collapse would be the endpoint of a fascist takeover, not the mechanism. At the point a scenario like that is unfolding, things have already gone to the bottom circles of hell.

     That’s not comfort to my mind. It means the danger is less far-fetched, more incremental, and more imminent than the constitutional convention scenario would have it.

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     Blake E. Reid 🍍🍕🥫🏁 (blakereid@mastodon.lawprofs.org)'s status on Wednesday, 31-May-2023 00:30:30 JST Blake E. Reid 🍍🍕🥫🏁

     in reply to

     @SteveBellovin but many of the worst-case outcomes of a rigged constitutional convention are already happening. This sounds like a lot more work than just continuing to stack the judiciary and making it hard for people to vote.

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     Steve Bellovin (stevebellovin@mastodon.lawprofs.org)'s status on Wednesday, 31-May-2023 00:30:33 JST Steve Bellovin

     in reply to

     • Blake E. Reid 🍍🍕🥫🏁

     @blakereid That's why I'm scared…