Court Opinion

ID: 9619667
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:31:08.482633+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:43.318501
License: Public Domain

SIMMS, Vice Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. I would refuse to assume original jurisdiction of this abstract question. This is not an actual case or controversy with justiciable issues. Unlike district courts, this Court does not have the jurisdictional power to render declaratory judgments.
The doctrine of publici juris is not in itself a ground of jurisdiction, it is merely one factor a court may consider’ in deciding whether to assume original jurisdiction when it exists on proper grounds. It is difficult to think of very many questions which would not have state wide application and be of public concern when addressed by the highest appellate court of the state. Simply being of general public interest or concern does not change a question into a lawsuit, however.
For these and the additional reasons expressed in my dissenting opinion in Okla. Ass’n. of Mun. Attys. v. State, Okl., 577 P.2d 1310, 1315 (1978), I dissent.