<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This Article examines one of the most important state court cases ever decided. In Montana ex rel. Cashmore v. Anderson, the Montana Supreme Court exercised its original jurisdiction to order, by a 3-2 margin, that the state’s original constitution be replaced with one the people apparently had failed to ratify. In doing so, the court yielded to interest groups that favored replacing the original state constitution with an instrument based on radically different premises. Political threats may have caused the swing justice to vote for the new constitution, but even if that did not occur, the case represents a striking example of the failure of the rule of law. The Article also proposes reforms that may reduce the chances of a recurrence.</p></abstract>

This Article examines one of the most important state court cases ever decided. In Montana ex rel. Cashmore v. Anderson, the Montana Supreme Court exercised its original jurisdiction to order, by a 3-2 margin, that the state’s original constitution be replaced with one the people apparently had failed to ratify. In doing so, the court yielded to interest groups that favored replacing the original state constitution with an instrument based on radically different premises. Political threats may have caused the swing justice to vote for the new constitution, but even if that did not occur, the case represents a striking example of the failure of the rule of law. The Article also proposes reforms that may reduce the chances of a recurrence.

Constitutional Coup? The Case that Promulgated a New Constitution for Montana

British Journal of American Legal Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Constitutional Coup? The Case that Promulgated a New Constitution for Montana"}

This Article examines one of the most important state court cases ever decided. In Montana ex rel. Cashmore v. Anderson, the Montana Supreme Court exercised...

Constitutional Coup? The Case that Promulgated a New Constitution for Montana

Publié en ligne: 31 déc. 2018

Pages: 317 - 364

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjals-2018-0013

Mots clés
Constitutional Law, State Constitutional Law, Montana Supreme Court, Montana Constitution, Cashmore v. Anderson

© 2018 Robert G. Natelson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Constitutional Coup? The Case that Promulgated a New Constitution for Montana

Publié en ligne: 31 déc. 2018

Pages: 317 - 364

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjals-2018-0013

Mots clésConstitutional Law, State Constitutional Law, Montana Supreme Court, Montana Constitution, Cashmore v. Anderson

© 2018 Robert G. Natelson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
Constitutional Law, State Constitutional Law, Montana Supreme Court, Montana Constitution, Cashmore v. Anderson