Court Opinion

ID: 9520017
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:29:32.87586+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:25.954708
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent and would affirm the judgment of the trial court granting summary judgment to the respondent.
By judicial fiat, this court substitutes its will for that of the legislature. The State Department of Health is not authorized by state law, either implicitly or explicitly, to issue a new birth certificate on the basis of a tribal court order of adoption.
An agency of state government has no more power than is delegated to it by the legislature. An agency does not create power in itself; only the legislature can create power in the agency. This fundamental principle was addressed by this court in In Re Opinion of the Judges, 66 S.D. 622, 627, 287 N.W. 581, 583 (1939), concerning the Rural Credit Board: “It is fundamental that this board cannot act beyond the limit of the authority conferred upon it.” Thus, the State Department of Health cannot be mandated by this court to accomplish an act that it has not been empowered to perform.
The state has a compelling public interest in the integrity and control of its own vital statistics and records. SDCL 34 — 25-16 refers to a clerk of courts — not a tribal clerk of courts. The duties of a “clerk of courts,” set forth in SDCL 16-22-7, encompasses only state clerks of court which does not include tribal clerks of court. It has been deemed by our legislature that automatic recognition not be granted to tribal court orders. The majority opinion has deleted the last crucial sentence of SDCL 34 — 25-16.1 which provides: “The birth certificate shall be prepared in accord with the facts as found and entered by the court.” It is evident that judicial intervention by a State judge is essential before a decree of adoption by a tribal court is recognized by the State Department of Health.
A further indication that the legislature does not deem that automatic recognition be given to tribal court orders is found in SDCL 28-7 — 13.1. That section is captioned “Tribal court orders regarding Indian children” and reads as follows:
For the purpose of administration of programs under the Social Security Act, amended as of February 21, 1978, by the department of social services, the department is authorized to honor tribal court adjudicatory and dispositional orders regarding the delinquency, neglect and dependency of Indian children under the jurisdiction of tribal courts.
The legislature decided it was necessary to expressly set forth that certain orders of tribal courts be recognized by the Department of Social Services. The legislature has never given this type of authority to the Department of Health. If the legislature desires to extend this authority to the state clerks of courts or State Department of Health, let it speak. Our duty is to interpret existing statutes — not create new ones.