AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine's highest court has ruled against Gov. Paul LePage in his dispute with the Maine Legislature over dozens of vetoes issued at the end of the session.
In their unanimous advisory opinion, the justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court found that LePage missed a ten-day window to issue the vetoes and the 65 bills in question now become law.
LePage shook off the legal defeat, saying the court's conclusion wasn't about winning or losing.
At issue before the court was a dispute over the interpretation of the specific rules around when vetoes must be delivered and when the Legislature is actually "adjourned."
Lawmakers claimed that LePage missed a ten-day deadline to send them the vetoes, and so the 65 bills had automatically become law. But LePage contended that the Legislature had adjourned, and therefore the deadline did not apply.
In their advisory opinion, the Supreme Court justices unanimously found that there were plenty of indications that the Legislature intended to return for the final day of the session on July 16, and that the ten-day deadline did apply in this case.
"We always felt like these bills became law after the governor failed to act on them after the 10 days," says Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves.
The justices said they agreed with LePage that the dispute between the Legislature and the governor met the threshold of what the court refers to as a "solemn occasion," which usually requires a legal interpretation by the court to avert a constitutional crisis.
In this case, the justices found that fate of 65 bills that have remained in limbo was an issue of primary concern. But they also concluded that the Legislature has the power to indicate when it is in or out of session.
"The plain reading of the Constitution was very clear, the precedent of the Legislature and the history of the Legislature was very clear," Eves says. "It's unfortunate that we had to use taxpayer dollars to get to answer that was pretty common sense and clear to anybody else but the governor."
"I'm not disappointed in the court's ruling; I think I'm pleased that they ruled so quickly," says assistant Republican leader Ellie Espling of New Gloucester, who along with other House Republicans supported LePage's arguments on the issue and hoped to prevent many of the bills from becoming law. "I think our caucus would have liked the opportunity to be able to have a say on the potential vetoes."
In a written statement, LePage also expressed his gratitude to the law court for reaching what he described as a fast and fair resolution to the issue. The governor said that it was not about winning or losing and that he looked forward to moving on and continuing to work for the Maine people.
That was welcome news to Lance Dutson, a former staffer with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who helped organize a group called Get Right that has been critical of several of LePage's policy decisions — including his delay on the vetoes.
"This effort clearly was a waste of time and it's time for this administration to focus back on what they were sent here to do, which is to effectively govern the state of Maine and get our economy back on track," Dutson says.
Among the bills that will become law in October, and were strongly opposed by LePage and some Republicans, is a measure that would provide welfare benefits to asylum seekers.