State of W.Va. ex rel. Biafore v. Earl Ray Tomblin

While courts are occasionally called upon to resolve a legal issue at the heart of a political dispute, neither this Court nor any court is constituted for the purpose of being played as a political trump card. Here, the petitioner Democratic Party alleges a lack of clarity in a statute that is perfectly clear. In fact, the clarity with which the subject statute addresses the precise issue presented leads to the inescapable conclusion that this extraordinary proceeding is a thinly-veiled attempt to bait the members of this Court into a partisan resolution. I am reassured that a majority of…