Monthly Column from the Friends of the Montana Constitution
By Dorothy Bradley, First Published in the Missoulian on March 7, 2026
You are invited to join a celebration of Montana’s Constitution! Save the morning of March 20 for the first annual Montana Constitution Day celebration in Helena’s new Montana Heritage Center.
For the past 53 years we have all benefited from Montana’s most special document — written by its very own elected delegates, following their very own unique rules of procedure, and adopted by “We the People” of Montana in statewide election.
I was fortunate to serve as a state representative before the Constitution was written, and after it was adopted. That was a privileged position because I immediately experienced a whole new way of doing political business, and the “new way” was stunningly better. I was also part of multiple legislative teams that had the opportunity and obligation to implement the new Constitution’s provisions, writing the statutory detail that fleshed out the constitutional concepts, and truly etched its profound declarations into our minds and lives.
Part of the “new way” included citizen rights to participate, to attend legislative meetings, and to receive notice of where and when these meetings would take place. Today these rules seem so logical, so routine. But from 1889 to 1971 elected officials thought nothing of working behind locked doors, throwing out the public and press, not announcing when or where they were meeting, not keeping records, and not even recording votes. There are many hilarious stories of pre-1972-Constitution days, but when you get into the weeds, it was not hilarious, polite, useful, or admirable.
In a visionary move, the Constitution gave us the right to a clean and healthful environment, but also the responsibility of maintaining and improving it. It guaranteed our right to individual dignity, the freedom of speech, and the right to bear arms. (My own grandmothers did not have individual dignity and couldn’t vote until they were elderly women.) It established the rules to elect nonpartisan judges, to balance the state budget, to protect water rights, to provide equal education opportunity, and to encourage local governments to innovate. And so much more.
For many of us who watched the action, one of the most amazing parts of the Convention was the nonpartisan spirit which they insisted upon from the beginning, and the fervor of all the delegates to get their document adopted by the people. Delegate Dorothy Eck famously observed, “We knew nothing would get done if everyone wasn’t included.”
We who participated in politics during this visionary and productive decade of the ‘70s, believed that the stage was set for at least another century. No one would have predicted that only half a century later the intense national divisiveness had found its way to Montana.
But we know from our neighbor-to-neighbor Montana experience, this is not inevitable, it does not have to continue, and we can be agents of change.
Friends of the Montana Constitution hopes that taking some time to reflect upon the best of Montana political times will help us recommit to making Montana governments, at all levels, a mirror of our best. No matter where we are on the political spectrum, our Constitution is our universal and intact Code. There is something in it for everyone. And no other state — NO OTHER STATE — has a more remarkable document.
Please join our inaugural Montana Constitution Day event to hear a special address from one of Montana’s own, the Honorable Anthony Johnstone, Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit —“The Montana Constitution in Time” — with an introduction from Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Cory Swanson. Activities begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 20. Check our website montanaconstitution.org/events to learn more and to find a link to participate remotely.
If you cannot attend or stream the Helena celebration, contact our organization for your own printed copy of this document, and celebrate Montana exceptionalism.
Dorothy Bradley served as a Montana Representative for eight sessions including before and after the Constitutional Convention and the passage of the Constitution in 1972. She and her partner, Dan Hurwitz, are retired in Clyde Park.