Michael L. Smith (St. Mary's University School of Law) has posted Missouri's Law of Constitutional Interpretation on SSRN. Hereis the abstract:
Debates over theories of constitutional interpretation frequently disregard state constitutional law and make predictions, conclusions, and justifications for constitutional interpretation based on the high-level analysis of a limited scope of cases. This article takes a step in a different direction, using a sample of over 100 Missouri Supreme Court cases to survey Missouri’s law of constitutional interpretation over nearly two centuries. In doing so, I find that rather than conforming to any one theory of interpretation, the court takes a pluralist approach—relying on multiple methods within and across cases to determine the meaning of the Missouri Constitution. This analysis confirms the need to analyze courts’ actual analysis rather than their methodological proclamations. I also identify interpretive trends across time and relative to particular provisions, as well as distinct approaches to constitutional interpretation that may better inform high-level debates over interpretive theory.
Recommended.
