The Court of Appeals upheld the rules. We allowed review and now reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals. We note at the outset the particular nature of the judicial review that we are conducting. Except for procedural issues not involved in the present case, the scope of judicial review under ORS 183.400 is limited. The reviewing court examines the challenged rules only to determine whether those rules on their face comply with applicable constitutional and statutory requirements.
Petitioners present five legal challenges to some or all of the rules in question.
In accordance with our preferred practice for dealing with legal challenges, we address the statutory issue first. Petitioners' statutory challenge arises under ORS 137.473. The judgment shall be executed by the superintendent of the Department of Corrections institution in which the execution takes place, or by the designee of that superintendent. All executions shall take place within the enclosure of a Department of Corrections institution designated by the Director of the Department of Corrections. The superintendent of the institution shall be present at the execution and shall invite the presence of one or more physicians, the Attorney General and the sheriff of the county in which the judgment was rendered.