Opinion ID: 1860513
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: standing to challenge constitutionality

Text: The fundamental question raised by the State's appeal of the district court judgment to this court is whether the defendant was entitled to relief in the form of the quashing of his indictment when he has failed to prove that he has suffered injury resulting from application of the code articles and statutes he challenges. That issue was not raised or addressed in the Dilosa decision. In order to answer that question, we turn to general principles of constitutional law regarding legal standing to challenge the constitutionality of code articles and statutes. Although this court generally possesses the power and authority to decide the constitutionality of the provisions challenged in defendant's motions to quash his indictment, it is required to decide a constitutional issue only if the procedural posture of the case and the relief sought by the appellant demand that [it] do so. Ring v. State, DOTD, XXXX-XXXX, pp. 6-7, 835 So.2d 423, 428. Further, a court should avoid constitutional questions whenever the case can be disposed of on non-constitutional grounds. Id. at 4, 835 So.2d at 427. One of the threshold non-constitutional issues that must be decided by a court before it may consider a constitutional challenge to a legal provision is whether the person challenging the provision has standing. Id. at 9, 835 So.2d at 429. See also Church Point Wholesale Beverage Co., Inc. v. Tarver, 614 So.2d 697 (La. 1993). In order to have standing to challenge the constitutionality of a legal provision, the person bringing the challenge must have rights in controversy. Id. at 7, 835 So.2d at 428. More specifically, [a] person can challenge the constitutionality of a statute only if the statute seriously affects his or her rights. Latour v. State, XXXX-XXXX, p. 560 (La.App.1/29/01), 778 so.2d 557, 560, citing Louisiana Paddlewheels v. Louisiana Riverboat Gaming Commission, 94-2015 (La.11/30/94), 646 So.2d 885. In this case, the district court specifically found that the defendant had not suffered any real harm as a result of any of the subject criminal code articles and statutes challenged. Thus, the district court implicitly found that the defendant had failed to show that the code articles and statutes he has challenged seriously affected his rights, as required, in order for a person to have standing to bring a constitutional challenge. Once the district judge found that the defendant lacked standing to challenge the subject criminal code articles and statutes, it should have denied defendant's motions to quash, rather than granting the motions for the purpose of inviting this court to speak to the constitutionality of the challenged provisions. We decline that invitation, and vacate the district court judgment declaring the subject criminal code articles and statutes unconstitutional and granting the motions to quash.