Bill would let Legislature intervene in legal challenges

By REBECCA BOONE

Associated Press

BOISE — A panel of Idaho lawmakers has introduced a bill that would allow the Legislature to intervene if anyone sues the state over one of its laws.

Coeur d’Alene Republican Sen. Mary Souza did not speak in detail about her legislation during the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee meeting on Wednesday afternoon, but said it would allow the Legislature to play a legal role if there is a lawsuit questioning state code.

“If there is a question about the constitutionality or the federal preemption of a statute in Idaho, the Legislature has the right — it doesn’t say we must — it has the right to bring an intervention in that case,” Souza said of her bill.

The state has been sued several times in recent history after lawmakers passed laws that were found to be unconstitutional. Idaho has been on the losing end of lawsuits over abortion restrictions, laws targeting transgender residents and laws attempting to restrict resident-led voter initiatives, to name a few, ultimately costing taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees.

But those lawsuits are generally between an individual or a group and the state itself, not the Legislature specifically. People or entities not specifically named in a lawsuit generally don’t get a say in the case, unless they specifically ask the court for permission to intervene.

The Idaho Legislature has been allowed to intervene in lawsuits challenging state laws in the past. Last year, the Idaho Supreme Court allowed the Legislature to intervene in two lawsuits challenging the same restrictive voter initiative law.

When the state is sued over its laws, it often falls to the Idaho Attorney General’s office to defend the state’s views, even in cases where the attorney general’s office previously warned lawmakers that the legislation would likely be found unconstitutional. But in some cases, such as when the voter initiative law was challenged, the Legislature has hired private attorneys to represent lawmakers’ interests in court.