Helena, MT — On Wednesday, September 6, 2023, the First Judicial District issued a partial preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of House Bill 562 (“HB 562”). The district court found that the bill likely violates separation of powers principles and voters’ constitutional right to vote in local school board elections, among other Montana constitutional provisions.

The Lochner era marked the beginning of the US Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) expansion of its powers into unenumerated rights, and by extension, Americans’ economic and social lives, which persists today. 

The development of substantive due process brought many unenumerated rights under the Constitution, meaning SCOTUS had the power to expand and protect them. But as seen with abortion, substantive due process also made it possible for SCOTUS to overturn unenumerated rights; after all, an institution that can grant rights may also take them away. The end of Roe v. Wade was a powerful lesson that personal freedoms depend upon courts and judges being willing to defend and protect them.  

DURHAM — North Carolina’s Senate Bill 747 (SB747) is an unconstitutional burden on the fundamental right to vote of young North Carolinians, according to a new lawsuit filed in federal court today by the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, Democracy North Carolina, and North Carolina Black Alliance, with representation by Southern Coalition for Social Justice. 

This letter to the editor was written by Barbara Headrick, president of the League of Women Voters of North Dakota.