Federalism and viable state government: the history of Utah's Constitution

The decade of the 1960's has witnessed, thus far, a sharp upswing of interest in the state of the states. Financial crisis, political paralysis, reapportionment, and the continued trend of federal intervention in heretofore "local" affairs have forced believers in the federal idea to reexamine the status of state government. Efforts have been made in learned1 and popular journals2 to explain the reasons for the decline of state government and the continued growth of federal power. Concern with the condition of state government in Utah has been evidenced by the passage of a joint resolution by the Thirty-sixth Legislature submitting the question of the need for a constitutional convention to the voters3 and by legislative action initiating studies of the executive,4 legislative,5 and judicial6 branches of Utah state government. Concern with the status of Utah's government has wisely turned to the fundamental document creating that government, the Utah Constitution of 1896. To be sure, the decline of state government has not been caused solely by deficiencies in the governmental structure created by state constitutions. But it will be the purpose of this Symposium to examine the contribution the Utah constitution has made to the decline of state government and the consequent inevitable increase of federal intervention into the void left by constitutionally unable state government.