First Advisor

Tim Garrison

Date of Publication

1-1-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in History

Department

History

Language

English

Subjects

Constitutional law -- Montana, Civil rights -- Montana, Constitutions -- United States – States, Montana. Constitutional Convention (1971-1972)

DOI

10.15760/etd.311

Physical Description

1 online resource (iv, 147 p.)

Abstract

In the mid-1970s, state courts began to interpret state constitutions independently of the federal constitution in a way that provided greater protection for individual rights at the state versus federal level. Scholars have generally attributed the rise of this movement, known as state constitutionalism, to the actions and scholarship of judges and point to the cause as a fear that the Burger court would rollback Warren court era protections for individual rights. In reality, the concept of state constitutionalism had been present throughout the 1950s-1970s period of state constitutional revision and was deeply influenced by concerns over the status of the federal system. Montana's 1972 Constitutional Convention illustrates the role that constitutional revision had in the subsequent adoption of state constitutionalism. In particular, the creation, adoption, and interpretation of two provisions--the privacy and dignity clauses--shows that the public was engaged in a conscious decision to go beyond the federal protections for individual rights. Montana's experience suggests that further research is needed in order for scholars to fully understand the rise and adoption of state constitutionalism.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

Portland State University. Dept. of History

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/7079

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