So today Judge Russell dismissed NPRI’s separation of powers lawsuit, saying that because the allegedly offending Senator had quit his Executive Branch job, there was no longer a conflict, and the case was moot.
Last week I said this about it:
Will NPRI’s separation of powers lawsuit continue forward? There are clearly grounds for moving forward, even if the original defendant is no longer directly impacted, and eventually, a sitting legislator will be found that can be sued without the issue being moot. Best to decide the issue now.
The really interesting twist in this will be the Leslie/Brower race, if the District Court moves forward with the case and if it gets to the Supreme Court before the 2013 session. The Supreme Court could conceivably be in the position of effectively deciding the balance of power in the state Senate.
I wonder if for that reason, the District Court will punt and declare the issue moot, leaving the question for a time when the Supremes wouldn’t be so open to accusations of partisan bias no matter which way they decided the case.
I had a professor in law school who required us to analyze cases in a number of different ways on exams and try to predict the outcome of those cases based on all sorts of factors. One of those factors was the external politics of the time the case was decided. It was incredibly valuable to be forced to think beyond the black letter law.
Whether political concerns informed Judge Russell’s reasoning in this particular case is unknown and unknowable. But it’s worth remembering that judges are politicians too, and they therefore cannot be blind to political ramifications of big decisions. It’s one of the reasons the Founders were wise to have federal judges appointed.
