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State of Montana ex rel. Cashmore v. Anderson, 500 P.2d 921 (Mont. 1972), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 931 (1973), was the Montana Supreme Court’s 3-2 decision declaring the state’s original constitution superseded by a new and very different charter. In Cashmore, the court took original jurisdiction and ruled that a statewide referendum had ratified the new constitution. The court did so without resolving a crucial factual dispute. Its decision also reversed the election rules that had governed the completed referendum.

Cashmore was unquestionably the most important case ever decided by Montana’s highest court. It was controversial—not just because the new constitution was controversial, but because of the court’s methodology and is reversal of prior election law and its methodology.  There were persistent rumors that one of Montana’s U.S. Senators applied improper political pressure to the justice who cast the deciding vote.

Cashmore has never been subjected to scholarly analysis. The court papers remain mostly unpublished: Aside from a few placed on line, the court papers are available only in single copies at the Montana Historical Society in Helena.

The case is of interest to the Independence Institute because of its negative implications for the rule of law. A full treatment of Cashmore is now in process, authored by Professor Robert G. Natelson, the Independence Institute’s Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence.

The court papers are published for the first time here. They are presented in order of their filing dates.

Principal Case:

Application by Stanley C. Burger for Declaratory Judgment, etc.

Application by William F. Cashmore for Declaratory Judgment, etc.

Order of Supreme Court Assuming Original Jurisdiction and Recognizing Consolidation of Cases

Answer of Respondent Forrest H. Anderson, Governor of the State of Montana

Brief of Respondent Forrest H. Anderson

Brief of Amicus Curiae Joseph P. Monaghan

Application to Robert L. Woodahl, Attorney General, to Intervene

Brief of Amicus Curiae William F. Meisburger

Brief of Amicus Curiae Robert L. Kelleher

Brief of Amicus Curiae M. Candee

Brief of Petitioner Stanley C. Burger

Complaint of Intervenor Dave M. Manning et al.

Schedule for Oral Argument

Answer of Attorney General

Brief of Amicus Curiae City of Billings

Memorandum of Law of Relator William F. Cashmore

Brief of Intervenors Leo Graybill, Jr., et al.

Brief of Intervenors Dave M. Manning, et al.

Supplemental Brief of Amicus Curiae Joseph P. Monaghan

Brief of Amicus Curiae Montana Farmers Union

Brief of Amicus Curiae Montana League of Women Voters

Brief of Amicus Curiae Montana Student Presidents’ Assn

Brief of Amicus Curiae Gerald J. Neely

Brief of Amicus Curiae North American Indian Alliance – Butte & Aid for Income Deprived

Brief of Attorney General

Brief of Amicus Curiae Common Cause

Montana Supreme Court: Opinion of Court and Dissent

Petition for Rehearing:

Petition of Stanley C. Burger for Rehearing

Petition of William F. Cashmore for Rehearing

Objections to Petitions for Rehearing, Attorney General

Memorandum in Support of Objections to Rehearing, Attorney General

Memorandum of Amicus Curiae M. Candee in Support of Rehearing

Addendum to Petition for Rehearing, Stanley C. Burger

Addendum to Memorandum in Support of Objections to Rehearing, Attorney General

Additional Brief of Amicus Curiae Joseph P. Monaghan