Court Opinion

ID: 9526237
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:14:26.07398+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:13:50.189145
License: Public Domain

VERNON R. PEDERSON, Surrogate Judge,
specially concurring.
In the light of the posture of this application for the exercise of original jurisdiction, I can concur in the disposition reached in the opinion authored by Justice Meschke. The election laws which appear to control the exercise of executive powers, in this case, are indeed ambiguous. There is no opportunity to now ask the legislative assembly to clarify its intention. This court should, and has, arrived at a reasonable solution to the matter of the selection this year of a successor to the late Senator Quentin Burdick, as requested by the Secretary of State and concurred in by the Governor.
My reluctance relates to the erection and attacking of straw men, to illustrate the problems perceived in the solutions formulated by the Governor. Furthermore, I have never experienced a state wide write-in election, and am not prepared to call that an absurdity. It was conceded that it would not be illegal.
Although constitutional and legislative changes subsequent to the decision in State ex rel. Andrews v. Quam, 72 N.D. 344, 7 N.W.2d 738 (1943) may explain our failure to rely on that precedent, it is possible that, in an appropriate case, it may be necessary to confront an argument that claims both legislative and judicial infringement of executive powers.