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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Ind. Courts - "State Supreme Court denies motion to hear Burke election challenge"

The second part of this ILB entry from Jan. 23rd quotes a report that both "Mayor Duke Bennett’s ... attorneys on Tuesday afternoon filed documentation with the court in support of former Mayor Kevin Burke’s previous motion filed earlier this month to have the state’s highest court take jurisdiction of the case, rather than the state Court of Appeals." So both sides filed to skip the Court of Appeals and go directly to the Supreme Court.

But, as Austin Arceo reports today in the Terre Haute Trib-Star:

Indiana Supreme Court justices unanimously have denied a request to hear the case challenging Mayor Duke Bennett’s eligibility for candidacy in last year’s mayoral election.

In a judicial order sent to the involved parties Tuesday, the Supreme Court denied the bypass from the Indiana Court of Appeals, which currently has jurisdiction of the case. Former Mayor Kevin Burke is appealing the Dec. 21 decision of Vigo County Judge David Bolk, who ruled that, while Bennett was subject to a federal law that limits political activity, state law did not prevent him from taking office as Burke contended.

“It’s hard to read the tea leaves,” Bennett attorney Bryan Babb said, “but I think it’s fair to say that if they felt that Judge Bolk had got it wrong and that Mayor Bennett does not belong in office, then they would have accelerated this process and heard the case as soon as possible.”

Burke attorney Ed DeLaney said he was not surprised at the ruling, but said that anybody who thinks that the decision indicates the high court did not see a need to change the local court’s decision doesn’t know much about the Supreme Court.

“This is a perfectly normal reaction on their part,” DeLaney said, “and so I don’t read any special meaning into this.”

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 13, 2008 10:19 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts