Chapter 3"

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, students should be able to understand:

1.  How state constitutions are increasingly becoming more favorable to civil rights and civil       liberties, and the basis for judicial federalism.

2.     The role of the state constitutions under the American system of dual constitutionalism.

3.     The origins of early state constitutions.

4.     Why legislative supremacy was written into the original thirteen states’ constitutions and why   power has increasingly shifted toward state governors.

5.  The origins of and problems with long constitutions that follow a positive-law tradition.

6.  The essential elements in a state constitution according to the National Municipal League’s Model State      Constitution, which reflects a higher-law tradition.

7.  The methods for amending state constitutions.

8.  The increased importance of judicial review by state supreme courts and their increasing role as judicial activists.