The California Supreme Court denied to review county resident
Rebecca McGovern’s final petition to enact the Growth Control
Initiative through the legal system last week.
The court refused to hear either side’s merits and didn’t give
any reason as to why they denied it, said Marguerite Leoni, the
attorney for the No on Measure G Committee.
The California Supreme Court denied to review county resident Rebecca McGovern’s final petition to enact the Growth Control Initiative through the legal system last week.
The court refused to hear either side’s merits and didn’t give any reason as to why they denied it, said Marguerite Leoni, the attorney for the No on Measure G Committee.
“It was a one-liner,” Leoni said. “The court had no reason to review (it) – it didn’t surprise me in the least.”
McGovern’s suit challenged the signature referendum that opponents of the initiative circulated to have the initiative put on the March ballot. The suit claims that language used on the petitions was illegal.
McGovern’s attorneys from the nonprofit organization Earthjustice are unsure whether the court denied review of the petition because of certain criteria or if it was just overburdened with cases, said Earthjustice attorney Anne Harper.
“We just don’t know,” she said. “We’re disappointed, but I still believe the case was strong on the law and it would have been nice to know their thinking on this.”
After McGovern’s lawsuit was thrown out in the San Benito County Superior Court, they realized their chances of getting heard were very slim, Harper said.
The Supreme Court dismisses 95 percent of the cases submitted for review, and they are loathe to interfere with the election process, she said.
“Because we thought we had such a strong case… we wanted to take that chance,” Harper said.
Standard procedure concerning writ petitions, such as McGovern’s, gives attorneys 60 days to appeal the denial for reviewal, Harper said.
“We haven’t made any decisions to do that, but there’s still time,” she said.
The Supreme Court’s decision was a final blow to a suit that shouldn’t have been filed in the first place, Leoni said.
“In my view, from the very beginning this was an unwise and unmeritorious lawsuit,” Leoni said. “As far as I’m concerned there’s going to be an election and that should settle the question – then we’ll see what San Benito County voters think.”
Rebecca McGovern declined comment.
