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Texas Lawmakers’ Unusual Attempt to Halt the Execution of a Possibly Innocent Man
The state high court held that the Texas legislature’s use of its subpoena power to delay an execution violated separation-of-powers principles.
Constance Van Kley
Constance Van Kley is an Assistant Professor at the Blewett School of Law at the University of Montana, where she teaches federal and state constitutional law.
The Montana Constitution: Unique to Montana and Uniquely Montanan
The state’s 1972 charter is populist, pro-conservation, and libertarian.
Valdez v. West Des Moines Community Schools
Ruled that plaintiff's proposed heightened standard for assessing peremptory strikes of "last minority" jurors was not required by constitution's due process, equal protection, or jury-trial rights
Falls v. Goins
Ruled that requiring persons with out of state felony convictions to comply with two separate statutes to regain suffrage rights was within the legislature’s constitutional authority to disenfranchise persons with felony convictions
Facebook, Inc. v. State
Ruled that the contemporaneous acquisition of electronic communications is the equivalent of wiretap surveillance and is therefore entitled to greater constitutional protection
Harris v. State
Ruled that right to a jury trial applies to "habitual offender" trials, but that there is no right to present evidence to a jury that does not prove or disprove prior convictions
Ex parte Sheffield
Ruled that defendant’s speedy trial claims were not cognizable in pretrial habeas corpus litigation, which would effectively undermine rather than vindicate the constitutional right before trial
Aurora Public Schools. v. A.S.
Ruled that statute creating a new cause of action for victims of child sexual abuse pre-dating the statute and for which claims were time-barred was unconstitutional as applied under constitution’s prohibition on retrospective legislation
People v. Smith
Ruled that a court may not treat an offense as a 'capital offense' for the purposes of setting bail if the general assembly has abolished the death penalty for that offense
