Dustin Rowe

In a series of dissents, the justices in the minority question whether it was even appropriate to evaluate a proposed state question before it has been approved by a vote of the people.

"The legislature," Chief Justice Dustin Rowe wrote in a dissent, "gave citizens the right to file a protest against an initiative petition before signatures had been gathered." But he noted, "Striking down petitions before they have been put to a vote diminishes the people's exercise of their inherent power reserved to them by the Constitution to change state laws."

The State Ethics Commission released preliminary findings in its investigation of State Representative Danny Williams, Republican from Seminole.

What has the commission determined?

But four justices disagreed.

Chief Justice Dustin Rowe wrote in his draft dissent that by striking down the petition before it's put to a vote, the court diminishes the people's right granted in the Constitution.

In Oklahoma City, I'm Anna Pope.

Meantime, an Oklahoma federal judge is questioning the constitutionality of automated license plate reader systems to track people's locations without probable cause.