Des Moines Register & Tribune Co. v. Dwyer

According to a venerable principle of disputation, the power to frame the question includes also the power to control the answer. Although the majority may have employed the proper analysis it has not reached the correct controlling question and has thus reached the incorrect conclusion. The question should be whether the legislature can suspend a self-imposed statutory obligation without first amending or repealing the statute. The answer should be no. I dissent because I think the trial court should be reversed.

As the majority notes, the political-question doctrine stems primarily from the…