Term Limits rulings

The Court ruled on the term limits cases, just before primary voting began:

In Child v. Lomax, the Court upheld the term limits provision in the Nevada Constitution. The Court also ruled that legislators voted into office at the same time as the initiative took office the day following the election, and the service that began then does not factor into the 12 year term limit. The ruling allows Barbara Buckley to remain on the ballot this year. The decision was unanimous.

In Miller v. Burk,  consolidated with Sisolak v. Lomax,  the Court decided that state and local officials who were elected in 1996 and commenced a term in 1997, and thereafter retained the office through reelection, are barred by the Constitution limit on terms of office from seeking the same position in this year’s election.  This decision, too, was unanimous.

The ruling means that Bruce Woodbury,  the one Republican in the country for whom I would have seriously have considered voting, will not be on the ballot in November. 

Nevada Supreme Court hears term limits arguments; severs legislator case from others

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard the term limits arguments yesterday.  

Today, the court ordered the three cases it had previously consolidated deconsolidated. See Order Deconsolidating Docket No. 51802 from Docket Nos. 51768 and 51798Child v. Lomax – the case attacking Barbara Buckley’s candidacy, has been severed from Sisolak v. Lomax, the attack on Woodbury’s candidacy, and Miller v. Burk the AG’s case attacking various candidacies.

This could indicate a different outcome for the legislators who served in 1996 than for other "public officials."

Meanwhile, here are some of the news reports on yesterday's arguments.

The R-J -  Term Limits Case: Challenge Gets Rash Of Queries

The Nevada Appeal: Nevada term limits: court deliberates, candidates wait.

If you’d like to judge the tenor of the justices’ questions yourself, click here  to listen to or download the audio files.