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 denied, 410 U.S. 931 (1973), was the Montana Supreme Court’s 3-2 decision declaring the state’s original constitution superseded by a new and very different charter.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 The court papers remain mostly unpublished: Aside from a few placed on line, the court papers are available only in single copies at the Montana Historical Society in Helena.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.
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 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