secures the rights of the people against both elites and themselves. The view that the Article V amendment process is the only legitimate vehicle for bringing about constitutional change, is, as pointed out by constitutional law scholar Joel K. Goldstein, "challenged by numerous widely-accepted judicial decisions that have introduced new meaning into constitutional language by departing from original intentions, expectations, or meaning." He also points out how constitutional institutions have, independent of both judicial activity and alterations effected though the Article V process, evolved "to take forms inconsistent with what the Founders imagined or the language they wrote suggested." In his farewell address, President George Washington said: If in the opinion of the People the distribution or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. This statement by Washington has become controversial, and scholars disagree about whether it still describes the proper constitutional order in the United States. Scholars who dismiss Washington's position often argue that the Constitution itself was adopted without following the procedures in the Articles of Confederation, while Constitutional attorney Michael Farris disagrees, saying the convention was a product of the States' residual power, and the amendment in adoption process was legal, having received the unanimous assent of the States' legislatures. Amending Article V Article V lays out the procedures for amending the Constitution, but it does not explicitly state whether those procedures apply to Article V itself. According to law professor George Mader, there have been numerous proposals to amend the Constitution's amending procedures, and "it is generally accepted that constitutional amending provisions can be used to amend themselves." Even so, Article V has never been amended. See also Gödel's Loophole List of amendments to the United States Constitution List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution List of state applications for an Article V Convention List of Rescissions of Article V Convention Applications Notes References External links U.S. Government Printing Office (2013) The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation CRS Annotated