Retired Justice Nadeau Squares Off Against Four Governors

Here we are, folks, in the ring for the semi-occasional toss-off between the NH Judiciary and the Legislature over who gets to set, and has the courage to set, state education funding policy.

Four former state governors (Sununu, Gregg, Merrill, and Benson, Republicans all) have come out in favor of a State Constitutional Amendment to limit the courts authority to legislate on education, if not bar broad based taxes to pay for them permanently. So has former Supreme Court Justice Chuck Douglas.

Today, retired Supreme Court Justice Nadeau came out against a Constitutional Amendment today, putting the onus on the legislature to decide what an adequate education is, taking it as a given that it is accepted by the people that the Constitution entitles a child to "an adequate education" paid for by the state (Nadeau was, of course, on of the majority in the infamous Claremont case).

Seems to us that the advantage is with the amendment crowd, but don't let that stop the newspapers from ballyhooing it as a nose to nose fight. The real question is whether the legislature has the votes to pass an amendment or just delay the inevitable for another year while playing chicken with the Court, daring it to make the decision that they cannot make.

The problem in the legislature, of course, is that the Democrats are generally in favor of an income tax, even though they can't admit to it publicly in most districts. Those that do will come under serious attack by their opponents in the election campaign underway. Leaving the decision to the courts is the easy out for anyone scared of standing up for themselves before the electorate, rather than riling up an organized campaign to oust them.

One thing the legislature hasn't considered: NH is not a right to work state. The Supreme Court Justices serve at the pleasure of the legislature, and there is no law requiring cause to fire someone here, nor are the justices members of the state employees union....