The Con of the Con Con: The Case Against the States Amending the U.S. Consitution

Imagine the most media-saturated political event on earth — security cordons, global cameras, activist mobs, lobbyists, and foreign observers — then give it authority over the U.S. Constitution. That is not dystopian fiction. It is the logical outcome of an Article V convention. In The Con of the Con-Con: 2025 Edition, Andy Biggs argues that the very scale and symbolism of such a gathering would overwhelm any promise of limits. A Constitutional convention, once convened, the process belongs to forces far larger than its original advocates.

Biggs does not theorize from the sidelines. Since the book’s first release, he has served as Arizona Senate president, debated the issue nationwide, and been elected to Congress five times. That experience sharpened — not softened — his conclusion. Congress does not relinquish power. Federal agencies do not stand down. Courts do not remain neutral spectators. And states, despite patriotic rhetoric, have repeatedly authorized amendments that weakened the republic, including the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments. The history is clear and Bigg’s arguments are plain.

Chapter by chapter, Biggs dismantles the myths that keep the convention movement alive: the fantasy of a single clean fix, the belief that delegates can be bound, the claim that “the states will save us” in a convention, and the insistence that urgency excuses risk. He distinguishes policy tinkering from constitutional doctrine, exposes misdirection by well-meaning activists, and tracks how fear is leveraged to sell an irreversible act. The argument is not abstract. It is grounded in precedent, political behavior, and the predictable convergence of interests once the doors open.

The updated foreword confronts today’s climate directly. Post-Dobbs state actions, intensified federal weaponization, and cultural polarization make restraint harder — and more necessary. A convention held under these conditions would invite every unresolved conflict of the last half-century into a single arena, with no guarantee of adjournment and no mechanism for containment. The best outcome preserves the status quo. The worst rewrites the Constitution to ratify progressive doctrines that the Forefathers resisted.

This book is written for readers who refuse to be stampeded by propaganda or intimidated by accusations of cowardice. It insists that restoration does not require spectacle, and that fidelity to the Constitution is an act of discipline. Read it now, because the call for a convention always returns when fear is loud — and because some doors, once opened, do not close. (2025, 144pp, pb)