Supreme Court Order in Argus Leader v. Gosch

@SoDakCampaigns

The South Dakota Supreme Court noted today that the Argus Leader could not compel the Speaker of the House to release the names of the members of the State House of Representatives who signed the “Petition for Special Session on Impeachment” or bar the Special Session from taking place until they did, denying the writ of mandamus and the writ of prohibition.

29788_Order by Pat Powers on Scribd

It is pretty shocking that in a democracy where we preach open government that legal action had to be sought on a vote of the legislature, and even moreso that it failed.

Shame on us.

26 thoughts on “Supreme Court Order in Argus Leader v. Gosch”

  2. Why shouldn’t Ravnsborg says the entire impeachment is a sham because he doesn’t know if the house actually has the votes to hold an impeachment? If he is to be dragged into this he should be able to know they met their requirement to begin proceedings.

    Amazing that he could be the first person impeached in SD history and not know if the house actually has the votes to even start the process.

    1. The impeachment process is a shame, to begin with. Two misdemeanors don’t constitute impeachment. If that were the case I imagine many members of the state legislators would have to be thrown out for all their misdemeanor offenses.

      1. Just because we don’t have the proper law on the books doesn’t mean he didn’t kill a man while driving distracted.

        1. Both of yall need to go back to school. America is a constitutional republic with democratically elected leaders. Some states delve into direct democracy like with referendums but those are typically rare considering how most laws are made.

          2. The people you’re talking to are probably playing word games and don’t care about the truth. Leftwingers will try to convince everyone the US is a “placid banana field” if they think it means it would allow them to abolish the electoral college, filibuster, etc.

        2. All the “evidence” is circumstantial. The “crime” scene and the car were not secured overnight, so those he was having investigated and wanted him gone could have done anything. I have also hit a deer at night, had damage sustained to my vehicle, and the deer ran off with only minor injuries.

        3. Again, it was already stated he did not kill the man and was not distracted. He was never charged with the death of the man. It was an accident, not sure why you can’t seem to understand that.

          1. Even if that was true (how in the world did he NOT kill Joe??) he could still be impeached right? He’s not trustworthy and needs to be gone.

            1. An accident by definition is “an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally without fault of the individual or individuals.”

              Now, should we bring up the fact that Joe was stumbling and way over-medicated that night, and that he crashed his truck earlier that evening? So then we should blame Joe for the accident.

  3. Process decision, the press asked for the wrong remedy, the Court’s telling them to use the right process. They didn’t rule on the underlying question.

  4. If I’m getting put on trial to be impeached I better know who made up the 2/3rds and I’d want to know beyond just taking the speakers word. No matter how much I like the speaker.

      1. If Noem really cared about transparency she’d be putting pressure on the House. She cares about trips and photo ops.

  6. “Applicants have a plain, speedy, and adequate remedy, in the ordinary course of law, to seek the public disclosure of the names…”

    I’m curious what they are referring to? Is there a process to request these names, other than simply asking Gosch, that the Argus didn’t follow?

    1. That likely refers to the standard open records request process or initiating an action in circuit court instead of trying to jump straight to the Supreme Court

Comments are closed.