There is envy in these United States for Montana’s revolutionary constitution, scrupulously crafted and unanimously approved by 100 bipartisan constitutional delegates from across the state in 1972.
“Other states have referenced our constitution for inspiration and certain provisions; you see changes in law and emulation in different states,” observes Rylee Sommers-Flanagan, founder of the Montana-based Upper Seven Law firm, following one of her several constitutional lectures in the Flathead Valley this past week.
“Legal scholars have looked at the way the Montana Constitution was written, looked at our [1972 constitutional] convention, and held it up as a model,” she explains. “Things like sitting alphabetically [rather than by party affiliation] are radical.”
Consider me impressed. Not only with Montana’s fundamental charter—a much-needed replacement for Montana’s inferior 1889 constitution, harnessed by this state’s often unscrupulous “Copper Kings”—but also Sommers-Flanagan, a renowned government watchdog attorney who’s made it her mission to enlighten the citizenry through the popular Montana Constitution Roadshow.
If you ask me, the preamble alone to the constitution will suck a person in and stir their soul:
“We the people of Montana, grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity, and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations, do ordain and establish this Constitution.”
It could be confused for a suppertime prayer offering, but I digress.
“I think that we all took an active part in the presentation of this preamble. It’s not the usual form-sort-of-thing that many states have,” moved Montana Constitutional Convention delegate George James of Libby upon its 1972 passage. “It expresses a reverence for our land, a pride in it; and it’s an expression of a philosophy that we … believe in.”
Delegate John Toole of Missoula seconded: “I think it represents the use of the English language at its very best; yet it is different, so far as I can determine, from any other state constitution.”
There were several local citizens among the “giants in Montana history,” as one writer extolled the 100 elected Republicans, Democrats and Independents—19 of them women—who collaborated to write the new constitution.
Among them were well-known Flathead Valley automotive dealer Sterling Rygg, lawyer Marshall Murray, educator Noel Furlong, resort owner-turned-clothing merchant Arnold Jacobsen, and farmer Henry Siderius.
The legendary preamble, of course, was never intended to be substantive law, although it has been been cited on occasion by the Montana Supreme Court.
Rather, it’s the constitution’s proactive principles and provisions that stand out: innovative and visionary guarantees like “self government” and “individual dignity,” many of them previously overlooked here and elsewhere.
“One example being the recognition of the cultural heritage of American Indians,” stresses Sommers-Flanagan, pointing out that “a lot of states” have since followed Montana’s lead.
“The right to know,” she adds—where no Montanan shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe the deliberations of all public bodies or agencies of state government and its subdivisions—“is another example where we tend to be among the strongest ‘right to knows’ in the country.”
How couldn’t we be, what with the compelling words of constitutional delegate Robert “Bob” Vermillion of Shelby?
“I came here,” he said simply, “with one idea in mind, a kind of philosophy, and that is that the public and the people are actually the boss of the government and the government is the servant of the people.”
Hear, hear!
Our state’s constitution, as a result, provides some unique guarantees: separate rights for adults and non-adults alike, privacy rights, pregnancy rights, water rights, rights for the accused, and most famous of late—garnering attention around the world—is a Montanan’s “right to a clean and healthful environment.”
Additionally, it sets forth limitations on sales and use taxes; provides for property tax exemptions and appeals; addresses term limits and veto powers and impeachments and pardons; there are self-government powers and charters; educational goals and duties; cultural resource preservations; even noxious weed management.
And for thousands of avid sportsmen there’s the “Preservation of Harvest Heritage,” which states the “opportunity to harvest wild fish and wild game animals is a heritage that shall forever be preserved to the individual citizens of the state …”
Constitutions, of course, are evolving works-in-progress. Ours has been amended 38 times (most recently in November 2024) since it went into effect in 1973. Montana’s original constitution, in comparison, was amended 37 times between 1889 and 1972.
That said, Article XIV of the 1972 charter allows by an affirmative two-thirds vote of all legislative members (one or more bodies) for an unlimited constitutional convention, “to revise, alter, or amend this constitution.”
If the question of holding a convention isn’t otherwise submitted during any period of twenty years, then by law it must be submitted at the general election in the 20th year following the last submission.
Thus, it will be up to Montana voters in 2030 to decide whether to hold a new state constitutional convention, opening the door for a partial or even complete overhaul of the constitution.
There is ongoing debate as we speak dealing with everything from water and property rights to the scope of government, with some special interests insisting the current constitution can’t be fixed through amendments alone.
I beg to differ.
John McCaslin is a longtime journalist and author who lives in Bigfork.