Colorado Law and Legal Research

The Colorado State Constitution provides an outstanding constitutional and historical account of the state's governing charter. It begins with an overview of Colorado's constitutional history, and then provides an in-depth, section-by-section analysis of the entire constitution, detailingimportant changes that have been made since its drafting. This treatment, which includes a list of cases, index, and bibliography, makes this guide indispensable for students, scholars, and practitioners of the Colorado constitution. Previously published by Greenwood, this title has been broughtback in to circulation by Oxford University Press with new verve. Re-printed with standardization of content organization in order to facilitate research across the series. This title, as with all titles in the series, is set to join the dynamic revision cycle of The Oxford Commentaries on the StateConstitutions of the United States.The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States is an important new series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historicaloverview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research. Under the expert editorship of Professor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a completeset, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.

Colorado Constitutional Law and History provides students, lawyers, and citizens with historical background, case precedents, and practical analysis of the entire state Constitution. While the U.S. Constitution is terse, the Colorado Constitution is detailed and prescriptive. It covers topics as diverse as gambling, mining, schoolchildren's textbooks, and old age pensions. Adopted in 1876, the Colorado Constitution was the longest that had ever been written. It is even longer today, thanks to the many amendments created via the people's rights of initiative and referendum. When settlement from "the States" began in the 1858 gold rush, Coloradans spontaneously created their own ad hoc governments. Colorado's Constitution later declared Coloradans' "sole and exclusive right of governing themselves." The independent spirit has continued to the present, including in the modern constitutional amendments that defied federal marijuana prohibition. Past and present, Coloradans have wanted an active government, and have also expected that the people in the government will abuse their powers. Colorado's unusually detailed state Constitution is Coloradans' continuing effort to keep government officials under the people's control. Yet over two dozen sections of the Colorado Constitution have been nullified by the Colorado supreme court or by other branches of state government. The majority of nullified sections involve the Constitution's rules against special government aid to politically powerful businesses, and the rules allowing taxation and debt only by voter consent. Colorado Constitutional Law and History describes the successes and failures in the people's attempts to use the Colorado Constitution to regulate governments in Colorado, and to protect Coloradans' rights of governing themselves.

TABOR, gay marriage, pit bulls, guns, redistricting, ethics in government, school vouchers, and minimum wage have been on Colorado's constitutional agenda for the past seven years. Dale Oesterle and I authored a book-length study of the Colorado Constitution through 2001. This article reviews amendments and judicial decisions arising since. It should surprise no one that TABOR has generated by far the most decisions