Justice O'Connor on Elections Law
From Judgepedia
In a 6-1 decision, Justice O'Connor concurred in the majority opinion, written by Justice Moyer, over the ardent dissent of Justice Lundberg Stratton, in a case action brought by a voter to force his local government to place an issue on the ballot that would have forced the village government to surrender its powers. After collecting enough signatures to do so, the village government refused to certify the issue for the ballot. The voter brought an action approximately 5 months prior to the election that would have forced the local government to do so.
The Majority held that because the date of the election had passed while the voter's case languished in court, the case was now moot, and should be dismissed. The majority further held that the voter did not act dilligently enough in purusing his legal claim where he "waited two and one-half months after filing the mandamus action to request expedited consideration." The court closed by noting a reluctance to issue advisory opinions.
In a very forceful dissent, Justice Lundberg Stratton made the following observations and criticisms of the majority opinion:
- "[The plaintiff] acted dilligently by filing his cases * * * more than four months before the November 2006 election. * * * When it became obvious to him that the court of appeals was not going to rule in time for the November election, he appropriately moved for an expedited briefing schedule * * *. [The plaintiff] did all he could to have the court proceed in a timely matter. He could not force the court to do its job timely. He should not have had to resort to a mandamus action in this court in order to force the court of appeals to timely act. The delay is the fault of the court of appeals. A court should give priority to election cases * * *. There is no reason for a court to delay ruling on an election case for ten months."
- "The subject of the petition, to surrender the village's corporate powers, has not expired or become moot [and] the matter should be scheduled for the next appropriate special election date."
- "By declaring the issue moot, the majority sanctions the dilatory conduct of courts that delay ruling, especially in election cases where time is of the essence, and it punishes the public, which is powerless once the challenger tires to get the court's attention with a request to expedite."
