Today's decision of the Montana Supreme Court in Bd. of Regents v. State, written by Justice Laurie McKinnon, holds that
- the Montana Constitution gives the Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education authority over the Montana University System, independent in many ways of the Legislature, and
- it was therefore unconstitutional for the Legislature (in a statute called HB 102) to preempt the Board's general ban on gun carrying on Montana public university campuses (Board Policy 1006):
The intent of the Framers controls our interpretation of a constitutional provision. We must discern the Framers' intent from the plain meaning of the language used and may resort to extrinsic aids only if the express language is vague or ambiguous. Even in the context of clear and unambiguous language, however, we determine constitutional intent not only from the plain language, but also by considering the circumstances under which the Constitution was drafted, the nature of the subject matter the Framers faced, and the objective they sought to achieve….
The 1972 Constitution removed the [1889 Constitution's] language subjecting the Board's powers and duties to legislative control and instead vested the Board with the "full power, responsibility, and authority to supervise, coordinate, manage and control the [MUS] and … supervise and coordinate other public educational institutions assigned by law." By the plain language of Mont. Const. art. X, § 9, the Board retains full independence over the MUS. However, the Board remains subject to the legislative powers to appropriate and audit, legislatively determined terms of office, and the oversight of additional educational institutions as prescribed by law. Legislative oversight likewise remained the case for the constitutionally created Board of Public Education.
