OPINION: 'He who represents himself has a fool for a client' — Abraham Lincoln
Jim Jones
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador should have heeded Honest Abe’s advice before launching his repeated frivolous attacks against the Open Primaries Initiative (OPI). Lincoln was saying what is common knowledge amongst lawyers and judges — a lawyer who pursues a hotly-contested claim in which he is personally invested can make serious errors of judgment, effectively sabotaging his or her own case. The self-interested lawyer often substitutes wishful thinking for reliable evidence and sound legal principles.
During my 12 years on the Idaho Supreme Court, I heard and considered about 1,600 cases presented to the court. Several cases that stand out are ones where the lawyers were so personally invested in the outcome that they were blinded to the fact that they had no chance of winning. Their self interest caused them to overlook fatal flaws in their evidence and legal theories.
That is the case with the Attorney General’s three failed cases against the Open Primaries Initiative. The AG and the rest of the extremist branch of the Republican Party are fully aware that the OPI will break their stranglehold over political power in Idaho. Labrador will be unable to obtain higher office if all Idahoans are allowed to have a say in our elections. With his political future at serious risk, he has let blind ambition overcome sound legal strategy.
Labrador’s first two forays against the OPI — his drafting of ballot titles designed to prejudice the OPI and his ill-fated case before the Supreme Court — were quickly swatted down. His latest challenge in district court was unceremoniously tossed out in record time by the judge. The case was simply unsupported by either the facts or the law.
Labrador’s main claim was that OPI proponents misrepresented the initiative and how it would work. That was easily repudiated by the initiative proponents. The district judge said, “there is very little evidence, even interpreted most favorably to the Attorney General, that the [proponents] tried to mislead potential signatories to the petition.”
In fact, the judge ruled that the “evidence the Attorney General submits actually negates the idea that the [proponents] perpetrated false statements to thousands of persons who actually signed a petition.” The technical legal term to describe a situation where a lawyer sinks his own case is, “he shot himself in the foot.”
The proponents have correctly stated that the OPI would eliminate the closed GOP primary, replacing it with a simple non-partisan primary ballot listing every candidate, where every voter can choose their favorite. Labrador claimed that calling the OPI an open primary was a misrepresentation because it is not exactly the same as the open primary that existed in Idaho before 2011. The OPI is actually much better because voters are not limited to voting for candidates on just one party’s ticket. It is a wide open primary where voters can pick and choose candidates for every office, regardless of party. The district judge dispensed with Labrador’s argument, saying it would be unconstitutional to limit the arguments that proponents used to describe the primary.
Labrador’s crusade against the OPI has provided an interesting demonstration of Abraham Lincoln’s pearl of wisdom about the folly of a lawyer’s decision to represent himself in court when his future or fortune is at stake. Getting sound, objective advice and representation is essential. Deluding oneself as to the strength of a case is a recipe for disaster. It is also a good way for a lawyer to lose credibility in the courts.
The situation also demonstrates the difference between the rule of law and the rule of politics. The two rarely coincide. Labrador promised he would run his office in a political manner and he has certainly done so. Idaho is blessed to have some of the best state court judges in the nation. They are picked in a non-partisan process for competence and dedication to the rule of law. They stand up for the law, not for the politicians. They don’t rule against anyone because of their personal beliefs but only if the law requires it. Labrador would do himself a favor by following that pattern and standing up for the law instead of placing his own self interest above the law.
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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho Attorney General and 12 years as a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court. He blogs at JJCommonTater.com.
LINKS:
Drafting of ballot titles designed to prejudice the OPI:
Ill-fated case before the Supreme Court:
Unceremoniously tossed out in record time:
The judge ruled: