In Dedication to Chief Justice Christine M. Durham

In 1982, Christine Meaders Durham was named the first female Justice to the Utah Supreme Court by then-Governor Scott M. Matheson. Only thirty-seven years old, she had served as a trial judge for four years before being appointed to Utah's highest bench. For the past thirty years, ten of them as Chief Justice, she has provided steady leadership to the judiciary of the State of Utah, becoming one of the most well-known and respected jurists in the country. During that time, Chief Justice Durham has dedicated herself tirelessly to advancing the law and the legal profession. In addition to her service on the Utah Supreme Court, she has (among other things) taught courses in constitutional law, served on the Utah Constitutional Revision Commission, the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure, and the Leadership Institute in Judicial Education, and been President of the National Association of Women Judges and the Conference of Chief Justices. For her countless contributions to the legal system, she was presented with the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, one of the nation's highest judicial honors, by Chief Justice John G. Roberts in November 2007. (1) It is appropriate that this journal has dedicated its State Constitutional Commentary issue to Chief Justice Durham because her contributions to the development of the law are particularly significant in the area of state constitutional law. In many states, no substantive body of state constitutional law exists, because interpretation of the state constitution is an afterthought to the application of federal constitutional jurisprudence. In cases involving constitutional rights, state courts frequently rely on federal decisions and do not look to their state constitutions unless the case at bar involves a state-specific provision. This is not so with the State of Utah, which has one of the most significant bodies of state constitutional law in the nation. Much of the development of Utah constitutional law is due to Chief Justice Durham, who has long been a proponent of conducting an independent state constitutional analysis whenever possible. (2) Her approach has resulted in numerous opinions regarding the Utah Constitution. The hallmark of Chief Justice Durham's jurisprudence in this area has been a willingness to tackle difficult questions through a meticulous analysis of the Utah Constitution's text, history, intent, and application to the facts at issue. Two opinions from 2006 illustrate Chief Justice Durham's thoughtful approach to state constitutional questions. In the first, University of Utah v. Shurtleff, (3) the Utah Supreme Court considered whether a state university had the authority to prohibit firearms on campus, even if the university's policy was inconsistent with state legislation allowing residents to carry firearms. (4) Among other things, the university argued that the Utah Constitution granted it the authority to promulgate its own policies on matters integral to academic affairs. (5) In a four to one decision, the majority found that the university's policy contravened Utah statutory law and that the university did not have constitutional authority to disregard such legislation by barring firearms on campus. (6) Writing alone in concurrence and dissent, Chief Justice Durham disagreed with the majority's conclusion that the university lacked the constitutional authority to regulate issues related to its internal academic affairs. (7) Through a painstaking analysis of Article X, section 4 of the Utah Constitution, including the history and intent of that provision at the time it was drafted in 1896, Chief Justice Durham found that the Utah Constitution gave the university the authority to function independently with respect to its academic mission. (8) And given the university's authority to enact and enforce policies on campus to maximize the educational environment, the university could reasonably conclude that allowing students to carry firearms on campus would be detrimental to the school's academic mission. …