Does Md. need a convention? Yes, take a fresh look

Posted: 7:00 pm Sun, July 25, 2010
By Steve Lash
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

A new century calls for a fresh look at Maryland’s constitution, said Mark Graber, a University of Maryland School of Law professor.

Graber, who teaches constitutional law, endorses a “yes” vote this fall on the ballot question of whether Maryland should hold a constitutional convention.

At the convention, delegates appointed by the General Assembly would discuss and could propose wholesale changes to the state constitution. The new constitution would then be put to a vote of the Maryland electorate.

“It’s not a bad idea to think about what state government should look like in the 21st century,” Graber said. “It couldn’t hurt and it might do some good.”

The good would be allowing the state’s citizens to update the way government does business, Graber said. A convention would also enable Marylanders to determine what rights they ought to have in this era, Garber said, noting current discussions over gay marriage and a right to education.

In addition, a convention would compel citizens to think about the role of government and the rights they hold dear.

“It creates an opportunity for people to think seriously about some issues,” Graber said. It would force people to confront the question, “Do we want to change fundamentally the way government does business? Maybe we do; maybe we don’t,” he added.

Across town at the University of Baltimore School of Law, similar views are voiced by professor Byron L. Warnken.

After nearly 150 years, it’s time for a fresh look at a governing document that was ratified shortly after the Civil War, Warnken said.

“It’s time to call for a constitutional convention,” he said. “Our whole society has changed so much.”

Warnken predicted that a re-examination of the constitution would yield few, if any substantive changes. Nevertheless, having delegates go “line by line” over the 1867 document from a 2010 perspective would be worthwhile, he said.

“A group of learned people should sit around a table and think through these individual provisions,” Warnken said. “It’s worth an examination every half-century or century or century and a half.”

He suggested that convention delegates not start with “a blank sheet of paper” but rather examine the current constitution and delete provisions they believe are outdated and make additions they believe are needed.

Warnken added that Marylanders should not be alarmed if delegates choose instead to make wholesale changes to the document. The constitution requires that any changes made at the convention be approved by voters before adoption.

“Nobody is going to ram something through,” Warnken said. “There certainly is a safeguard against them going crazy.”