Lawmakers filed suit claiming Gov. “Butch” Otter took too long to veto; he defended action with 1978 high court ruling. Via the AP:
The Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s contentious veto of legislation repealing the state’s 6 percent sales tax on groceries.
The high court’s decision comes after 30 state lawmakers filed a lawsuit claiming Otter took too long to veto the grocery tax repeal because he waited longer than 10 days as outlined in the Idaho Constitution.
Otter, along with other top elected officials, countered he was just following a 1978 high court ruling that said the veto deadline only kicks in after it lands on his desk. The lawsuit originally singled out Secretary of State Lawerence Denney because he verified the governor’s veto.
Otter was later named in the challenge at the Republican governor’s request because he argued that it was his veto that sparked the lawsuit.
However, the justices disagreed with Otter. Nestled inside their 21-page ruling, the court overruled the previous 1978 decision – a rare move inside the courts because of a preference to follow prior judicial precedent – because they argued the Constitution clearly states the deadline starts when the Legislature adjourns for the year. That part of Tuesday’s decision will only apply to future legislative sessions and not the grocery tax repeal case, nor any other prior vetoes.“The (1978 decision) did not interpret the Constitution; it purported to rewrite an unambiguous phrase in order to obtain a desired result,” the justices wrote.