Goettl v. State

“The constitution is a law. It is the fundamental, inflexible law in written form which controls, limits, and orders the powers of all departments of government.” Rasmussen v. Baker, 7 Wyo. 117, 143, 50 P. 819, 826 (1897). Justice Potter’s words describe the function of a too often forgotten document, the Wyoming Constitution. In the search for “law,” attorneys, legislators, prosecutors and judges seek the shelter of “precedent” where words written before are occasionally venerated, one suspects, merely for their presence on paper.

Today, too often, myopic views of constitutional precedent are…