State Constitutional Law in 1943–44

Abstract

Total war may be either the negation of constitutionalism or the ultimate test of its vitality. During the third year since Pearl Harbor, the leading constitutional cases decided in state courts have at last begun to show the operation of the principle of limited government in war-emergency conditions. The judicial veto has been vigorously used. Separation of powers in particular and, to some extent, non-delegability of legislative power have revived to new strength after a period of apparent decline. Minority rights, although only slightly curtailed in the readjustment to paramount war-time needs, have suffered more serious modifications in other respects. Otherwise there has been a notable absence of outstanding civil liberties cases. The courts have vied with legislatures in manifesting a growing conservatism toward the constitutional rights of labor. The position of the state, and especially the position of the state courts in the federal system, has been a continuing source of constitutional development. Problems of government and business have more than lost their depression-era dominance. Signs of judicial distaste for popular participation in the legislative process have persisted.