At the November 4, 2008, general election, Illinois voters will have the automatic opportunity to call for a state constitutional convention to revise the 1970 Illinois Constitution. This is a significant constitutional issue that arises in Illinois only once every 20 years. This article will answer some basic questions regarding the constitution and the convention call.1
A dual system
Through the United States Constitution, the people delegated to the federal government only specific or enumerated powers. Therefore, the federal government must rely on the United States Constitution for power to act.
The people also created state governments and conferred upon them the residual general powers of government. The people's representatives in the state legislature exercise the people's lawmaking power. Accordingly, the legislative powers that the people did not assign to the federal government remained with state legislatures, except for those powers the people withheld through state constitutions.
Therefore, a state legislature does not rely on a state constitution for power to enact legislation. Rather, a state legislature looks to the state constitution and the federal Constitution for restrictions on its power to act. The state legislature may act in every area of government, subject to the federal and state constitutions.
However, the people's inalienable fundamental rights cannot be contracted away or transferred to government. Thus, a constitution recognizes and protects individual rights and liberties, but it does not create them.
