Statesman: Mackowiak lauds Abbott's Article V plan

Travis County Republican Party Vice Chairman and political consultant Matt Mackowiak praised Gov. Greg Abbott's Texas Plan, calling for what's known as an Article V convention to amend the Constitution, in his bi-weekly column in the Austin American-Statesman.

Abbott has taken [former Gov. Rick] Perry’s passion and transformed it into a tangible idea that can become a national movement. It gives Americans a way to act on their frustration with Washington and an all-too-powerful federal government. 

It is both politically brilliant and legally sound.

Read more.

Regardless of your stance, Mackowiak lays out some important information on just what an Article V convention is, and why the Governor's office is calling for one. Keep watching the Travis Tracker for more analysis on the Article V convention issue.

According to a press release from the Governor's office, Abbott offered the following constitutional amendments:

• Prohibit Congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly within one State. 
• Require Congress to balance its budget. 
• Prohibit administrative agencies—and the unelected bureaucrats that staff them—from creating federal law. 
• Prohibit administrative agencies—and the unelected bureaucrats that staff them—from preempting state law. 
• Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a U.S. Supreme Court decision. 
• Require a seven-justice super-majority vote for U.S. Supreme Court decisions that invalidate a democratically enacted law. 
• Restore the balance of power between the federal and state governments by limiting the former to the powers expressly delegated to it in the Constitution. 
• Give state officials the power to sue in federal court when federal officials overstep their bounds. 
• Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a federal law or regulation. 

Governor Abbott's full plan (PDF).