Arizona Supreme Court won’t break budget stalemate

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Different process, same result. The Arizona Supreme Court could have simply declined jurisdiction based upon the "political question" doctrine. Everyone would have understood and accepted that result. Instead, the Court felt compelled to muddy the waters and demonstrate how ineffectual the Court can be when it comes to matters involving the other coequal branches of government..

In essence, the court ruled that "yes, the Legislature is violating the Arizona Constitution but we're not going to require them to do anything." Court won't break budget stalemate:

The Arizona Supreme Court will not intercede in the budget battle between Gov. Jan Brewer and the state Legislature.

The court dealt Brewer a political setback Tuesday in rejecting her request that the justices force legislators to send her a series of budget bills. Lawmakers approved the bills earlier this month but have refused to pass them on.

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Both sides claimed victory in Tuesday's court ruling, a three-page order authored by Chief Justice Ruth McGregor.

The court found that, following passage of the budget bills, the Legislature had failed to send them to Brewer "within the time mandated by the Arizona Constitution." But the justices cited "unique circumstances" in the case in opting not to grant Brewer's request and compel legislators to transmit the bills now.

For one, the case involves a "good-faith dispute" between competing branches of government, the court noted. It's impossible to know whether the Legislature would have voted to pass the budget bills in early June had it anticipated the coming court ruling, McGregor wrote. Additionally, legislative leaders have committed themselves to sending Brewer the budget proposal by the end of the fiscal year.

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Once legislation is passed, the court wrote, "the Legislature cannot delay presenting it to the governor." The ruling stated that future bills must be transmitted immediately following final passage, and the court may further define the issue in a lengthier explanation expected shortly.

"I guess we won the battle but lost the war," said House Majority Leader John McComish, a Phoenix Republican.

Brewer issued a statement following the ruling in which she said legislators "should not continue to hold these bills hostage" and should send her their spending plan "without further delay."

With time running out on the fiscal year, both sides appear to be girding for the budget standoff to go down to the wire. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray said he expects the Legislature to wait until June 30 to send Brewer the budget bills.

Attention now turns to budget talks between the governor and legislative leaders as they work to reach an accord and avert a government shutdown. The likelihood of that deal appeared slim, though, as both sides remained at odds after talks Tuesday evening described as brief and unproductive.

A little less than seven days to go to a partial government shutdown. Tick, tock, tick, tock…