In the U.S. state of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

, the state legislature passed a bill limiting the office of Governor to two consecutive terms after Democratic Governor

Edgar Herschler Edgar Jacob Herschler (October 27, 1918 – February 5, 1990) was an American politician and attorney who served as the 28th Governor of Wyoming from 1975 to 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the longest-serving Governor of Wyoming w ...

served three terms into the mid-1980s. Then in 1992, voters approved term limits by

ballot initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a p ...

. Neither action constituted an amendment to the

Wyoming Constitution The Wyoming Constitution is the supreme governing document of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It was approved by a statewide vote of 6,272 to 1,923 on November 5, 1889. It was last amended in 2008. It was the first constitution in the United States which ...

. Twelve years later, two state legislators challenged the term limit law in a lawsuit; the

Wyoming Supreme Court The Wyoming Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices. Each Justice is appointed by the Governor of Wyoming from a list of three nominees submitted by the ...

invalidated the limits in a unanimous decision, ruling that a constitutional amendment would be required to establish such a law. The ruling did not apply directly to statewide executive positions (including the office of Governor), but it was expected in early 2009 that popular Governor

Dave Freudenthal David Duane Freudenthal (born October 12, 1950) is an American attorney, economist, and politician who served as the 31st Governor of Wyoming from 2003 to 2011. Freudenthal previously was the United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming ...

might challenge that law on the same grounds.

References

{{Reflist Politics of Wyoming

See also

References