Opinion: How California’s 39 million people would be marginalized at a U.S. constitutional convention

To the editor: My organization, the League of Women Voters of Orange Coast, agrees with law professor David A. Super’s concerns about a constitutional convention called by the states. (“A constitutional convention is the last thing America needs,” Opinion, March 15)

The league believes that “Representation at the Constitutional Convention must be based on population rather than one state, one vote, and delegates should be elected rather than appointed. The delegates represent citizens, should be elected by them, and must be distributed by U.S. population,” and that “voting at the Constitutional Convention must be by delegate, not by state.”

We are also concerned about the possibility that a convention called for one purpose could choose to consider other topics — the so-called runaway convention. There are no laws to prevent that from happening.

Diane Nied, Irvine

The writer is president of the League of Women Voters of Orange Coast.

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To the editor: After President Trump’s victory, there was a lot of frustrated and loose talk about California secession. But cooler heads have prevailed, and we have settled for merely undermining every horror that Trump pulls.

But let’s think through this constitutional convention gambit. Let’s say that the conservatives pull it off, and that’s a huge if.

In that event, it would not be loose talk. California would have no choice but to withdraw from the newly constituted union with its punitive, mean-spirited public policies, because the new union would be unrecognizable and unacceptable to California. New York might come to the same conclusion.

So the right-wing fantasy would result in a new country without California and possibly without New York. Good luck.

Jeff Goodwin, Los Angeles

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