South Carolina House backs move to boost state power

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - South Carolina's House of Representatives on Wednesday called for a federal Constitutional Convention to consider an amendment allowing a super-majority of states to repeal acts of Congress.

Under the "repeal amendment," a vote of two-thirds of states could overturn any federal law. The repeal amendment movement began in the Virginia legislature and among tea party groups, and has support in a dozen other state legislatures.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, has expressed support of similar legislation, introduced in Congress in December.

Thirty-four states can call for a Constitutional Convention, something that has not been held since 1787, and two-thirds of states, or 38 states, must ratify any amendments passed there.

In South Carolina, the repeal amendment is part of a multi-pronged effort to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act -- "Obamacare" to its opponents -- pushed through the U.S. Congress by President Barack Obama's Democrats.

Those efforts also include an ongoing lawsuit by the state against the federal government, and a bill introduced in Congress on Monday by South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham that would allow states to opt out of new health care laws and regulations.

The South Carolina bill on the repeal amendment, approved 72 to 44 in the House, now goes to the Senate where it is supported by the leadership, said Greg Foster, spokesman for the House speaker's office.

Both branches of South Carolina's legislature have Republican majorities.

"The Repeal Amendment is a way for us to regain our constitutional right to state sovereignty that Congress has eroded over the years," said South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell.

"Our state and federal constitutions were created to protect the people from the government, and by doing so, ensure the preservation of liberty."

However, one prominent political scientist said the effort to amend the constitution through a convention would ultimately fail.

"It has no chance at all of being approved," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

"We're not going to have a Constitutional Convention. There's no way they're going to get 34 states. As a practical matter, it's not going to happen."

(Editing by Jerry Norton)