City of Sand Springs v. Department of Public Welfare

HARGRAVE, Justice.

The people of the State of Oklahoma, by referendum vote in 1936, established the Department of Public Welfare, giving it powers such that the usual rules of the doctrine of separation of powers do not obtain to restrict the activities challenged here. The people have spoken; the Constitution, as the organic law of the State, will be obeyed. The provisions of Article XXV of the Oklahoma Constitution render inapplicable the persuasively presented, and usually obtaining, doctrine of separation of governmental powers. Thus the outer limits of the authority of the Department must…