Initiative & Referendum Institute v. Herbert

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Initiative & Referendum Institute v. Herbert is a lawsuit filed by the Initiative & Referendum Institute on October 23, 2000, in the United States District Court for the District of Utah on the grounds that Utah Supermajority for Hunting Initiatives, Proposition 5 (1998) was a violation of the First Amendment because it imposes a 2/3 supermajority vote requirement only on a certain class of initiatives--that is, initiatives that restrict hunting rights.

The district court ruled against the plaintiffs on September 11, 2001. The plaintiffs then on June 26, 2002 appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, where they also lost. In early 2007, the plaintiffs appealed to the United States Supreme Court. According to a statement filed with the court by the I&R Institute asking the country's highest court to take the case, "The [Utah state] Senate sponsor [of the measure) candidly explained that the "reason for this [resolution] is to basically make it much more difficult in the State of Utah to do an anti-hunting, anti-fishing type initiative."

External links

• Cert requested
• Statement from plaintiffs requesting review by the U.S. Supreme Court (121 page PDF file).