MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont’s attorney general says a lawsuit challenging the governor’s authority to pick an education secretary should be thrown out.
The Attorney General’s Office, led by Democrat Charity Clark, says the case brought by Democratic Sens. Tanya Vyhovsky and Dick McCormack lacks legal merit under the state constitution.
This all stems from the highly contentious vote this spring in which the Senate shot down the confirmation of the governor’s pick for education secretary, Zoie Saunders, over concerns about her experience with charter schools and what some called a lack of vision.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott appointed Saunders interim secretary moments after the vote.
Vyhovsky and McCormack sued Scott, arguing he violated the constitution by making an interim appointment when the Senate rejected his pick.
In a filing Wednesday, the Attorney General’s Office, which is defending the Scott administration, says the court should toss out the case because it lacks a valid legal claim. Lawyers wrote, “The Governor’s actions are lawful, and Plaintiffs’ theory otherwise is contrary to Vermont’s Constitution, practice regarding interim appointments, Vermont case law construing relevant statutory terms, and guidance from other jurisdictions.”
The senators have until Aug. 19 to respond to the motion to dismiss.
In an unusual twist in the case, the senators are claiming the attorney general should be representing them in this case, not the governor.
In mid-June, their lawyers sent a letter to the attorney general pointing to a pair of state laws passed in 2018 that state the attorney general shall represent members of the general assembly for all civil matters relating to their duties. And they say the confirmation of governor appointees is their duty.
There is no response to this claim yet from the AG’s office, and we don’t know where this would go from here, but it’s the latest wrinkle in a case that’s raised questions about the constitutional authority of the legislative and executive branches.