Eye On Boise

GOP wants Supreme Court to order Ysursa to declare redistricting vacancies

Posted by Betsy

Jan. 24, 2012 2:08 p.m. • 7 comments

About half an hour ago, House Speaker Lawerence Denney and Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus in the Idaho Supreme Court, calling on the court to “immediately” order Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa to declare two vacancies on the Idaho citizens redistricting commission, and then recognize their new appointees for those spots; the two said they'd asked Ysursa to declare such vacancies but he'd refused, citing the legal advice of the Idaho Attorney General, who provided him with a legal opinion saying commissioners can't be removed. You can read the GOP court filing here. It's not clear yet how the high court will react; it could request a response from Ysursa, the respondent to the complaint, or it could just issue a ruling.

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

duroc on January 24 at 2:21 p.m.
How funny! I want the Supreme Court to declare something, too!

“Let it be hereby known that Norm Semanko is a complete and utter putz!”
mtngardener on January 24 at 2:36 p.m.
I gotta have my way or else. 4 year olds?.

But one wonders what the Supreme Court will say. One also wonders if we will ever know an election schedule.
Sisyphus on January 24 at 2:53 p.m.
This is fairly interesting from a legal standpoint because a writ of mandamus is a rare beast and SCOTSOI is loathe to utilize it. There’s a reason there’s no provision for firing commissioners. I can’t see the court agreeing with these guys because if they succeed in obtaining this power, then what’s to stop them from exercising it any time they disagree with commissioners when they adopt a reapportionment plan Norm and Denney don’t like. Moreover, the court has already ruled in this case remanding it to commission to “reconvene” and select a plan from those before it that meets the Constitutional requirement. In other words they didn’t order them to start from scratch, which is what Norm and Denney want to do.
mtngardener on January 24 at 2:55 p.m.
The petition uses the language “employment and service” insisting that Denny can terminate Crow’s “employment and service” because he appointed her and likewise for Semanko and Hansen. I’m wondering if the case might revolve around these words. Who is the employer they are giving service to, Denney or the people of Idaho? Was this commission supposed to be answerable to the Legisature, the political parties or the people of Idaho?
Sisyphus on January 24 at 3:00 p.m.
The case law they’re relying on is in the employment context, hence those words. There could be a scenario that if the court doesn’t rule by Thursday, and Hansen and/or Crow fail to show up, then Dems would have a majority and could rule on any plan they like.
LarrySpencer on January 24 at 5:37 p.m.
I don’t think the Democrats could get a better plan than what they had, Sis.

And with the makeup of the last committee they could expect to get anything they wanted in the future map.
fortboise on January 24 at 7:12 p.m.
Good question, mtngardner. The legal authorities will sort it out one way or the other, but from a governance point of view, the logical responsibility of the redistricting commission is to the people of the state of Idaho.

The Legislature as a whole and individual members of it individually have an inherent conflict of interest over redistricting, which is precisely why a separate commission was established.

The SCOTSOI should send a raspberry to Denney and his sidekick for failing to understand the most basic principle of fiduciary responsibility.