Local Constitutions

Abstract

Municipal charters are the forgotten constitutions of our federal system. Scholars generally understand our democracy to be governed by federal and state constitutions, but there is a third, almost entirely ignored, level of constitutional law and practice that lives at the local-government level, embodied in the charters that govern cities, counties, and towns. Engaging these foundational documents is critical. In an era of political gridlock and national polarization, with cities and other local governments increasingly grappling with policy concerns once considered state, federal, or even international responsibilities, the legal institutions that govern local democracy merit newfound scrutiny.

Although municipal charters serve many of the functions that constitutions perform at other levels of government—delineating public institutions and articulating areas of “higher” law—legal scholars rarely take them seriously as constitutional texts. This Article argues that foregrounding the constitutional nature of municipal charters provides new theoretical insights into local governance and the role that local governments play in our political order. Like the federal Constitution, charters can be a locus for constitutional meaning and civic identity, rendering fundamental choices about governmental structure, political process, and individual rights more salient and doctrinally significant.

Understanding municipal charters as constitutions, in turn, carries important normative implications. Properly framed, charters can reinforce the contested nature of local governments as democratic polities rather than administrative arms of the states, at a time when the democratic underpinnings of localism are under strain. Improving charter constitutionalism can also serve a legitimating function for cities and other local governments, furthering rule-of-law values such as transparency and stability.

This newfound recognition of the conceptual and normative potential of municipal charters, finally, suggests pathways for reforming the law and practice surrounding these instruments—reform that is vitally urgent. The Article thus proposes pragmatic innovations in how state and local governments approach charters, emphasizing the importance of inclusive process in ratifying and amending charters at what are, ultimately, vital local constitutional moments.

Keywords: constitutional law, charters, local government