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To: goldstategop

Judges have ordered elected officials to raise taxes in the past. This has happened in places like Missouri and Vermont over school funding.

Now, the ability of courts to make these orders has been constrained somewhat by Missouri v. Jenkins (1995), but I don’t doubt that in a BK court, that ruling would be seen as non-applicable. There is no legal precedent for a judge to feel constrained to NOT be able to order a state legislature to “do their job and raise taxes,” especially when the judge starts citing duties of the state to a) educate children and b) pay their creditors, which are enshrined in some state constitutions. A judge would be on solid ground in a state-level BK proceeding to tell the legislature to raise taxes to discharge these two duties...


32 posted on 11/29/2010 1:26:00 AM PST by NVDave
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To: NVDave

A judge cannot appropriate money or order the other branches of government to do anything. He can hold them in contempt but they can just ignore his order and no judge has the power to order officials to be arrested for defiance if they don’t care for the court’s ruling. So what the court can do is limited.


34 posted on 11/29/2010 1:37:29 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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