Cite as 349 Ark. 600 (2002)
Arkansas Constitution on the ballot for general election. Donovan v. Priest, 326 Ark. 353, 931 S.W.2d 119. Respondent and intervenors in that case argued that the taxpayer's challenge was a question of substantive constitutional law not yet ripe for our review. Id. We decided the case and held that the proposed constitutional amendment violated state and federal constitutional provisions. We distinguished between substantive and procedural challenges to the validity of proposed constitutional amendments, concluding that substantive constitutional challenges "necessarily involve fact-specific issues and thus are not ripe for review until the proposed measure becomes law and a case in controversy arises." Id. at 360, 931 S.W.2d at 122. We noted in Donovan that this court has previously addressed constitutional challenges to the validity of a proposal, limiting such review to situations where the proposed measure was clearly contrary to law. Id. at 359, 931 S.W.2d at 121 (citing Plugge v. McCuen, 310 Ark. 654, 841 S.W.2d 139 (1992)). Later, in Kurrus v. Priest, 342 Ark. 434, 29 S.W.3d 669 (2000), we again held that a proposed constitutional amendment violated state and federal constitutional provisions, acknowledging that ninety-year-old precedent existed to support the consideration of the constitutional validity of a proposed amendment prior to an election. See Stilly v. Henson, 342 Ark. 346, 28 S.W.3d 274 (2000); Czech v. Baer, 283 Ark. 457, 677 S.W.2d 833 (1984); Hodges v. Dawdy, 104 Ark. 583, 149 S.W. 656 (1912).
[11] In the case of Cummings v. City of Fayetteville, supra, a Fayetteville lawyer brought a declaratory-judgment action against the city, seeking a declaration that a statute governing the recall of city directors was unconstitutional. This court held that there was no justiciable case or controversy absent any allegation that attempts had been made to obtain voters' signatures as required by the recall statute or any specific allegation that the petitioner wished to recall a city director. We said:
The Declaratory Judgment Statute is applicable only where there is a present actual controversy, and all interested persons are made parties, and only where justiciable issues are presented. It does not undertake to decide the legal effect of laws upon a state of facts which is future, contingent or uncertain. A declaratory judgment will not be granted unless the danger or dilemma of the plaintiff
