Technical state constitutional clauses gave state courts their main striking tools

Evidence

It would something of an exaggeration to call a state supreme court the third chamber of the legislature. But the court was a force to be reckoned with. The explosion of judicial review did not rest on the due process clause alone or on other clauses borrowed from the federal Constitution. Many cases of judicial review turned on clauses with no federal counterpart at all. The sloppy, bloated texts of state constitutions were made to order for an aggressive judiciary. Technical controls over corrupt, and selfish legislation were written into the constitutions; these gave courts (and litigants) a weapon they could use. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2077

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: State court judicial review exploded from rare to common between 1850 and 1900 — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2076; Single-subject clauses served open government but mainly armed judges — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2083; The single-subject clause has voided dozens of state statutes — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2078

Broader Connections

• Single-subject clauses served open government but mainly armed judges #exemplifies (0.82) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2083