So there was an actual “attack on our democracy” this week. Some “judge” decided to exercise the power of the purse, which is a power of the political branches NOT of the judiciary. The State Constitution gives the legislature the power to decide how much to spend and how to spend it. The executive has a veto power over spending bills, that the legislature can override. The judiciary has NO power over spending, except when the spending violates a provision of the constitution. For example, a law that says the State will spend $10,000 per student on schools that are majority white-students, but only $2,500 per student on schools that are majority non-white.
Such a law would violate the equal protection clause and therefore would be unconstitutional. Note, however, that the court’s job is limited to declaring such a law unconstitutional. The court has NO power to order the legislature to increase funding at majority non-white schools to $10,000 per student. It is up to the legislature whether to increase funding at majority non-white schools, whether to provide no funding to schools at all, AND any other response … so long as the response does NOT treat white and non-white students differently.
But in New Hampshire we have become desensitized to the judiciary exercising the power of the purse. It’s treated as normal. Even when the judge “orders” the legislature to increase spending by a minimum of half a BILLION. Yes, that is billion with a B … BILLION:
STORY: The Rockingham County Superior Court issued a pair of groundbreaking rulings today that would upend New Hampshire's education funding formula.
The rulings are almost certain to be appealed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Read: https://t.co/BHpUzHSKlK #NHPolitics pic.twitter.com/smNQoMle5n
— Ethan DeWitt (@edewittNH) November 20, 2023
If you actually believe that the State Constitution empowers judges to set a per-pupil spending floor, you are an IDIOT. If you actually believe that the “proper” response to this actual attack on democracy is a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT, you are an IDIOT.
What this judge, and all the others before him, have done is outrageous. Yet all we have gotten from the NHGOP, the Party that supposedly is all about upholding the constitution, is the equivalent of a shrug. The NHGOP is a Party of SHEEP.
