Court Opinion

ID: 9659784
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:54:41.949569+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:11.522780
License: Public Domain

PEDERSON, Justice
(concurring in part).
I concur in the quashing of the writs issued by the judge of the district court of Burleigh County. I do not concur in all that is said about what kinds of things are idle acts. However, I agree that no one should be commanded to perform idle acts. This court engages in an idle act when it commands a board over which it has no jurisdiction (the State Board of Canvassers) to meet and to take any corrective action.
Because § 47 of the North Dakota Constitution must be superimposed upon all statutes assigning tasks to either the executive or the judicial branch of government, in a legislative election contest, only those functions which expedite or facilitate the legislative determination are not idle acts.
*357If the State Board of Canvassers decides voluntarily to meet and if it recognizes that the legislature will not need any more certifications to show that there is an election contest, then the State Board of Canvassers will conclude that it is not necessary that such board do anything because it would only be an idle act.