State high court to consider governor’s veto appeal

The serpentine legal battle over 10 bills Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed earlier this year is headed to the state’s highest court.

The New Mexico Supreme Court said Monday it will consider an appeal by the governor challenging a judge’s decision in August to overturn the vetoes and allow the bills to become law.

The unanimous order is just the latest development in a feud over the 10 noncontroversial pieces of legislation, including a measure allowing research of hemp and permitting high school students to count computer science courses toward the credits they need to graduate. The case could have ramifications beyond these bills, however, and ultimately curb the governor’s veto power.

New Mexico courts have never addressed the question of whether governors must explain their vetoes.

The bills at the center of this case are hardly political lightning rods, however. Though each was sponsored by a Democrat, the bills generally passed with broad bipartisan support and most deal with relatively arcane issues.

The state constitution says if the governor does not approve of a bill passed by the Legislature, the governor has three days to return send it back to lawmakers with her objections.

But Martinez nixed these 10 bills without offering any explanation during an acrimonious stretch of the 60-day legislative session earlier this year when Democrats and the