Yesterday, the New Mexico Supreme Court heard oral argument, and issued an oral decision, striking down Governor Susana Martinez’s line-item veto of judicial pay raises. You can read about the arguments and decision in this article by Milan Simonich in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Four of the five justices recused themselves from hearing this case, and thus former Justice Patricio Serna, former Court of Appeals Judges Celia Foy Castillo and A. Joseph Alarid, and former district court Judge Jim Hall were appointed to the panel. Justice Bosson was the only sitting justice not to recuse himself.
(UPDATE, June 13, 2014): You should also check out this post by Rob Nikolewski at Capitol Report New Mexico, which has a video with comments by the two attorneys who argued the case, Ray Vargas for the judges, and Jessica Hernandez for the Governor. Both of them are very good lawyers, so I wish I could’ve been there for the argument!
