Opinion ID: 1387131
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Heading Rank: 5

Heading: separation of powers under the new mexico constitution

Text: The New Mexico Constitution vests the legislative power in the legislature, N.M. Const. art. IV, § 1, and the executive power in the governor and six other elected officials, id. art. V, § 1. The Constitution also explicitly provides for the separation of governmental powers: The powers of the government of this state are divided into three distinct departments, the legislative, executive and judicial, and no person or collection of persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments, shall exercise any powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as in this constitution otherwise expressly directed or permitted.... N.M. Const. art. III, § 1. This provision reflects a principle that is fundamental in the structure of the federal government and the governments of all fifty states. The doctrine of separation of powers rests on the notion that the accumulation of too much power in one governmental entity presents a threat to liberty. See Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452, 459, 111 S.Ct. 2395, 2400, 115 L.Ed.2d 410 (1991). James Madison expressed this sentiment more than two hundred years ago when he wrote, [t]he accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. 1 Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay, The Federalist, A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States No. XLVII, at 329 (1901 ed.). Despite the strict language of Article III, Section 1, this Court has previously said that [t]he constitutional doctrine of separation of powers allows some overlap in the exercise of governmental function. Mowrer v. Rusk, 95 N.M. 48, 53, 618 P.2d 886, 891 (1980). This common sense approach recognizes that the absolute separation of governmental functions is neither desirable nor realistic. As one state court has said, separation of powers doctrine does not mean an absolute separation of functions; for, if it did, it would really mean that we are to have no government. Sabre v. Rutland R. Co., 86 Vt. 347, 85 A. 693, 699 (1913). Recognizing, as a practical matter, that there cannot be absolute compartmentalization of the legislative, executive, and judicial functions among the respective branches, we must nevertheless give effect to Article III, Section 1. Accordingly, we have not been reluctant to intervene when one branch of government unduly interfere[d] with or encroach[ed] on the authority or within the province of a coordinate branch of government. Mowrer, 95 N.M. at 54, 618 P.2d at 892 (quoting Smith v. Miller, 153 Colo. 35, 384 P.2d 738, 741 (1963)). This Court has previously held that Article III, Section 1 mandates that it is the Legislature that creates the law, and the Governor's proper role is the execution of the laws. State v. Fifth Judicial Dist. Court, 36 N.M. 151, 153, 9 P.2d 691, 692 (1932); see also State v. Armstrong, 31 N.M. 220, 255, 243 P. 333, 347 (1924) (recognizing that the Legislature has the sole power of enacting law). Our task, then, is to classify the Governor's actions in entering into the gaming compacts. Although the executive, legislative, and judicial powers are not  `hermetically' sealed, they are nonetheless functionally identifiable one from another. Chadha, 462 U.S. at 951, 103 S.Ct. at 2784. If the entry into the compacts reasonably can be viewed as the execution of law, we would have no difficulty recognizing the attempt as within the Governor's authority as the State's chief executive officer. If, on the other hand, his actions in fact conflict with or infringe upon what is the essence of legislative authoritythe making of lawthen the Governor has exceeded his authority.