Supreme Court Declares Initiatives and Referendums Valid
The Supreme Court's endorsement of initiatives and referendums marks a significant affirmation of direct democracy in the United States, rooted in early 20th-century reform movements designed to empower citizens against legislative inertia. Initiatives allow voters to propose legislation through popular petitions, leading either to direct public votes or legislative consideration before a vote. Conversely, referendums enable citizens to compel a legislative measure passed by elected representatives to be presented to the electorate for approval. Historically, these mechanisms began gaining traction in states like South Dakota and Oregon, but their validity faced legal scrutiny over time, culminating in a 1912 Supreme Court decision that upheld these processes as part of state governance while clarifying their inapplicability to federal constitutional amendments. This ruling established that while states could adopt such direct legislative tools, the process for amending the U.S. Constitution remains strictly governed by federal guidelines. The initiative and referendum systems reflect a broader engagement in democratic participation, drawing inspiration from similar practices in other countries, such as Switzerland, while evolving through American historical context.
Supreme Court Declares Initiatives and Referendums Valid
Supreme Court Declares Initiatives and Referendums Valid
Two cornerstones of the reform movement that swept the United States at the beginning of the 20th century were the initiative and the referendum, forms of direct legislation designed to ensure the triumph of popular will over any obstructionism by recalcitrant legislatures.
Under the initiative, a specified percentage or number of a state's voters can initiate legislation by means of a popular petition. If by state law the proposal then goes directly before the people in a popular election, the method is known as the direct initiative. If the proposal must go to the legislature for approval before it can become law, the procedure is known as the indirect initiative. In either case, the effect is to force consideration of a proposal and ensure that it is put to a vote.
The referendum is applied to measures approved by a legislative body. Under the terms of the referendum, a particular number of citizens can force the state legislature to submit a measure that it has passed to a vote of the people before that measure becomes law. In the United States, the kind of referendum most commonly employed is the so-called optional type, instituted by a petition of the people. There is also what is known as the mandatory referendum, by which some state constitutions and local charters require that certain kinds of laws always be submitted to the electorate for approval.
The initiative and referendum were first adopted by South Dakota in 1898, and then by Oregon in 1902. In due course, the validity of these methods of direct legislation was disputed, and a test case was taken to the United States Supreme Court for final decision. The Court decided on February 19, 1912, that the adoption of such political devices as the initiative and referendum lies within the discretion of the people of the states and that when these devices are adopted the courts must accept them.
However, the initiative and referendum as applied to state and local proposals are not applicable to matters concerning the United States Constitution. The state of Ohio discovered this when it attempted to submit a federal constitutional amendment to its voters for ratification. The validity of such ratification was disputed, and the Supreme Court held that a state had no power to change the method of amending the U.S. Constitution as laid down in that document itself. Thus, constitutional amendments must still be submitted to the legislatures of the states or to conventions in the states called for the purpose of considering them. An amendment to the federal Constitution becomes effective only after three-fourths of the state legislatures or specially called conventions have ratified it.
The initiative and referendum were patterned on the forms of direct legislation that came into wide use in Switzerland after 1830. Actually, however, the initiative was recognized in America as early as 1777, when Georgia gave voters the exclusive right to propose amendments to its state constitution. The automatic referendum on state constitutions (as opposed to the federal constitution) and amendments to them, which has been called a purely American invention, was first used in adopting the constitution of Massachusetts in 1780. Connecticut adopted the obligatory referendum, for amendments to the state constitution proposed by the legislature, in 1818.