Constitutional Question?

In and Associated Press article Justice won't be removed from state's high court by PETER PRENGAMAN, appearing in the September 6, 2003, on line issue of the Salem, Oregon, Statesman Journal. Mr. Prengaman asserts that Oregon Supreme Court Justice, Thomas Balmer, will remain seated after the court dismissed a challenge to his 2001 appointment to the Supreme Court.

Mr. Prengaman continues: "The plaintiffs, led by anti-tax activist Don McIntire, had argued that Balmer should not have been appointed because a successful 1910 ballot measure, which allowed justices to be chosen statewide instead of by district, contained more than one change to the Oregon constitution."

Prengaman further asserts: "Ballot measures are supposed to ask voters to decide on only one constitutional amendment at a time."

After some searching within the text of the Constitution of the State of Oregon, I discovered the text referred to. Oregon Constitution, Article IV, Section 1, Paragraph (d), reads in part:

"...A proposed law or amendment to the Constitution shall embrace one subject only..."
OREGON CONSTITUTION, ARTICAL IV, §1, (d)

However, the source citations for the current text of Article IV, Section 1, reads as follows:

...[Created through H.J.R. 16, 1967, and adopted by the people May 28, 1968 (this section adopted in lieu of former sections 1 and 1a of this Article); Amendment proposed by S.J.R. 27, 1985, and adopted by the people May 20, 1986; Amendment proposed by S.J.R. 3, 1999, and adopted by the people May 16, 2000]
OREGON CONSTITUTION, ARTICAL IV

Section 1. Legislative authority vested in assembly; initiative and referendum; style of bills.
[Constitution of 1859; Amendment proposed by H.J.R. 1, 1901, and adopted by the people June 2, 1902; Amendment proposed by S.J.R. 6, 1953, and adopted by the people Nov. 2, 1954; Repeal proposed by H.J.R. 16, 1967, and adopted by the people May 28, 1968 (present section 1 of this Article adopted in lieu of this section)]

Section 1a. Initiative and referendum on parts of laws and on local, special and municipal laws.
[Created through initiative petition filed Feb. 3, 1906, and adopted by the people June 4, 1906; Repeal proposed by H.J.R. 16, 1967, and adopted by the people May 28, 1968 (present section 1 of this Article adopted in lieu of this section)]
OREGON CONSTITUTION, ARTICAL IV

The Constitutional requirement that a ballot issue, where a constitutional change is proposed, only contain one subject appears to have been adopted by the people on May 28, 1968; or later; probably on May 20, 1986.

Need copies of the Oregon Constitution - as written 1859, as amended 1902 and as amended 1954, as amended 1968, as amended 1986 and as amended 2000 - to complete the inquiry and arrive at a definitive, factual, conclusion.