Duncan and Smith v. State

Courts occasionally leap headlong into the merits of a controversy with scant thought to the preliminary question of whether the controversy is even justiciable in the first instance. This appeal permits us to linger upon the threshold and to explore the fascinating, though frequently overlooked, contours, peculiar characteristics and procedural mysteries of the threshold itself. What is the rite of passage by which one crosses? Who bears the peril of the crossing? The prime issue in the case before us is:

Who has the burden of producing evidence on the question of standing to raise a Fourth…