Today the Utah Supreme Court made a 4-0 unanimous decision upholding the ballot language drafted by Legislative Counsel and finding that HB 174 is dependent on the survival of HB 148. This means that the referendum on this November's ballot will be an up or down vote as to whether or not the voucher program will be implemented.This legal opinion by the highest court in the State of Utah cannot be appealed. This is a matter of State law; so this is the final say on this issue.
Additionally this legal opinion is directly contrary to the Attorney General's opinion that asserted that HB 148 and HB 174 could co-exist separately.
This shows that Attorney General Shurtleff is using his public position for political purposes and not for the common good of the people of Utah. In other words, the Supreme Court said: Shurtleff, you are wrong!
Senators Bramble, Valentine and House Speaker Curtis's attempt to muddy the waters has failed, and the best interest of the children of Utah has prevailed.
Some legislators are already complaining about "judicial activism" and "legislating from the bench." They should listen to the oral arguments.
The Justices seemed reluctant to take up the issue of HB 174's dependence on HB 148. But the Judges seemed to change their mind when three of the four attorneys, including those representing the pro-voucher legislators, encouraged the Court to take up the matter of whether HB 174 was dependent. The attorneys all argued that it was critical to decide that issue in order to determine whether the ballot language would be misleading voters. The only attorney that did not argue that point was Gay Taylor for LGRC who simply said that determining dependence of HB 174 was beyond the scope of their office when drafting the ballot language. She also noted that the simple word "Amendment" in the short title was not enough to determine whether HB 174 could stand alone and that other factors should be taken into account. Those factors were readily supplied by another attorney and were not disputed in the oral argument.
So, while the wailing and gnashing of teeth will begin regarding whether the judges overstepped, you can check for yourselves to see that they only did what the parties in the action asked them to do.
This is a great day for our neighborhood schools and children in Utah.
4 comments:
I was at the Capitol for most of the day and didn't hear any wailing.
It's nice to finally have clarity on the ballot question.
Maybe you need a hearing aid.
David, be nice.
I DO need a hearing aid. Too much time in the mosh pit, back in the day. Nonetheless the Capitol was pretty quiet. A little disappointment, sure, but also a sense of gratitude for the clarity - and for our system of government. People on all sides of the referendum have been operating under a strange legal suspended animation, with no real movement (unless you count rising levels of frustration and emotion). The Supreme Court decision ends that. They made the path clear so everyone can get down to the real business of reaching out to voters so they can make a fully educated decision in November.
RC
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