Court Opinion

ID: 9628666
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:28:14.099495+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:10:35.330655
License: Public Domain

BERNSTEIN, Justice
(concurring).
I have no serious objection to the majority opinion in so far as it is based on this Court’s lack of jurisdiction to issue an original writ of prohibition against the State Superintendent of Liquor Licenses and Controls. While I do not necessarily subscribe to the reasoning of the majority, I believe the result is justified by Article VI, Section 4 of the Arizona Constitution.
In emphasizing that the Superintendent is an “administrative officer” and that “the processing, issuing and denial of liquor licenses are administrative acts,” the majority opinion may be interpreted, however, to limit the applicability of the writ of prohibition generally and the power of a Superior Court, in particular, to issue the writ in the circumstances here involved. The majority opinion does not discuss the nature of the duties imposed upon the Superintendent by statute or the objections made herein to the Superintendent’s present attempt to issue additional liquor licenses.
Without setting these matters forth, I believe the petition herein properly presents a case for the Superior Court, which is fully empowered to issue original writs of prohibition, to entertain, if not grant, the instant application for prohibition, if such application were made to the Superior Court. Here, the Superintendent is under a duty to consider evidence and apply the law to facts as found, thus exercising a discretion or judgment judicial in nature and performing a function which is quasi-judicial and not merely ministerial.
In particular, the determination by the Superintendent that he has the power to issue additional liquor licenses involves a quasi-judicial activity which may be questioned in a prohibition proceeding. I do not believe that proposition is disputed by the majority, but I consider it important to be affirmed here.