Justices clear use of in-house counsel in legislative case

CARSON CITY — A divided state Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Legislature’s in-house legal team can represent the body in a lawsuit brought by eight Republican state senators challenging the legality of the two tax measures passed in the 2019 session.

The 5-2 ruling allows the underlying case to go forward in Carson City District Court. The state’s top court heard the case in early February.

The GOP senators challenged the two tax bills, contending that the revenue-enhancing measures required two-thirds majority support in both houses to pass. Both bills passed the Assembly by that margin but fell one vote short of the same in the Senate.

In the District Court case, the plaintiffs objected to the fact that attorneys for the Legislative Counsel Bureau represented defendants including Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Senate Secretary Claire Clift. District Court Judge James Todd Russell sided with the Republicans and ruled that the defendants needed outside lawyers so the in-house lawyers could stay neutral.

Five Supreme Court justices disagreed, saying the lower court’s characterization that the Legislature’s lawyers were choosing sides in the legal dispute was “unfair and unsupported.”

The plaintiffs “are not acting on behalf of the Legislature when they sue other legislative members in their official capacities in order to challenge the validity of legislation that the law presumes to be constitutional,” the court’s majority ruled.

Justice Elissa Cadish wrote the ruling, which was joined by Justices Mark Gibbons, James Hardesty, Ron Parraguirre and Lidia Stiglich.

Justice Abbi Silver dissented, joined by Chief Justice Kristina Pickering, and sided with the lower court’s ruling that the nonpartisan legislative lawyers can’t represent one group of lawmakers against the other.

The Legislature is set to hold a special session next month to address the growing budget deficit caused by business shutdowns related to the novel coronavirus.

Contact Capital Bureau reporter Bill Dentzer at bdentzer@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @Dentzernews on Twitter.