Restraining Delegates in Constitutional Convention with Citizen Assemblies

The idea of using citizen assemblies to anchor a constitutional convention involves legally constraining delegates to vote consistently with the views of the citizen assembly. States like Massachusetts could establish a citizen assembly to continuously review and vote on proposals for amending the Constitution. Delegates would be bound to support only those proposals which receive at least 60 percent of support in the citizen assembly. This process could elevate the importance of constitutional issues in the United States, moving the focus beyond the political partisanship between Democrats and Republicans.