Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

Check out Appeals Court: Calvin Say Must Prove He Lives in the District He Represents (Civil Beat, 4/23/2014)—and I understand that KITV did something as well.

Although there have been prior challenges to Say’s residency, this one has the possibility to succeed. For one thing, the order has just the right amount of Latin:

A writ of quo warranto inquires into the authority by which a State official claims her or his office HRS § 659-1 (1993).

I’m just kidding. But that Latin phrase explains what Say will have to defend against at trial in the lower court—the Intermediate Court of Appeals has bounced the case back down to the trial court, where it is likely, according to the article, to be heard before the next election.

Say will find that attorney Lance Collins is a formidable opponent. Collins has defended Hawaii’s Sunshine Law in a recent case, and before that, he argued and won Babson v. Cronin, which determined that the State of Hawaii’s use of electronic voting machines was not adopted through lawful rulemaking. Also at issue in that case was the use of electronic transmission of voting results, which could subject the election process to so-called “man in the middle” attacks in which the numbers could have been changed. Collins takes defending good government seriously. Good for all of us.

Collins doesn’t mess around. It would be interesting to be in the courtroom to watch how the trial goes. Regardless of the outcome, there could be several similar cases filed in state court as a result of today’s decision.

Civil Beat’s article is a clear explanation, and includes a copy of the ICA opinion.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 4/23/2014 06:14:00 PM