Ending Court Protection of Voters from the Initiative Process

Abstract:     
When journalists write their stories about state ballot propositions in the 2006 election, they likely will focus on South Dakota's abortion rights referendum, Michigan's affirmative action measure, or the variety of eminent domain measures reacting to the Supreme Court's Kelo decision. But there's also a story about measures that courts have kept off the ballot in a misguided effort to protect voters from making hard or bad choices. In this short essay, I argue that states should repeal their "single subject" rules because judicial enforcement leads to arbitrary, perhaps result-oriented decisions that don't benefit voters.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 6

Accepted Paper Series