![handle is hein.journals/montlr84 and id is 1 raw text is:
TOWARD THE END OF THE LAST WAVE: THE
MONTANA STATE CONSTITUTION AT FIFTY
Robert F. Williams*
[S]tate legislatures have once again become relatively democratic and repre-
sentative bodies as a result of the reapportionment revolution begun in 1962
by Baker v. Carr. Not accidentally, that decision spurred a wave of constitu-
tional revision. No fewer than thirteen states revised their basic charters be-
tween 1963 and 1976, reviving at least in part, the tradition of activist popu-
lar sovereignty.
James Henretta
I. INTRODUCTION
The Montana Law Review should be commended for addressing seri-
ously the Montana Constitution here and in prior years. Further, the Blewett
School of Law offers a course called Montana Constitutional Law, taught
by Professor Anthony Johnstone, who has written his own textbook.2 In this
way, the Blewett School of Law has certainly avoided Sandy Levinson's
all-too-true criticism:
One of the dismaying realities of American legal education, particularly at
its most elite level, is the abject ignorance displayed about the importance of
state constitutions and even of state judiciaries, even though most of the
common law cases that students read arise in state courts. Still, too many
students may well graduate from three years of legal study with the percep-
tion that the only Constitution operating within the United States is the na-
tional document and that the only courts one need really focus on are federal
courts, particularly, of course, the United States Supreme Court.3
2022 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Montana's well-regarded, inno-
vative state constitution.4 Such anniversaries present excellent opportunities
to look back at the features of the constitution and how it has operated and
been interpreted over the years. Also, these anniversaries offer opportunities
* Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, Director, Rutgers Center for State Constitutional
Studies.
1. James A. Henretta, Foreword: Rethinking the State Constitutional Tradition, 22 RUTGERS L.J.
819, 839 (1991). This introduction is drawn from Robert F. Williams, Michigan State Constitutionalism:
On the Front of the First Wave, 60 WAYNE L. REV. 1, 1-4 (2014).
2. See generally ANTHONY JOHNSTONE, THE MONTANA CONSTITUTION IN THE STATE CONSTITU-
TIONAL TRADITION: CASES AND COMMENTARY (2022).
3. Sanford V. Levinson, Foreword to MICHAEL L. BUENGER & PAUL J. DE MUNIz., AMERICAN
JUDICIAL POWER: THE STATE COURT PERSPECTIVE, at ix (2015); see also Jeffrey S. Sutton, Why Teach-
And Why Study-State Constitutional Law, 34 OKLA. CITY U. L. REV. 165, 166-67 (2009).
4. See G. Alan Tarr, The Montana Constitution: A National Perspective, 64 MONT. L. REV. 1,
20-21 (2003).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/montlr84&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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