Legal Commentary

Preference for Public School Over Homeschooling ? and Maybe Private Schooling ? Because It Provides ?Exposure to Different Points of View??

By Eugene Volokh

I blogged about this case several months ago; Gavel to Gavel reports that the New Hampshire legislature is considering whether to pass a ?bill of address? asking the governor to remove the judge who issued the decision:

A bill of address requires only a simple majority of both the House and Senate and need not specify any ?bribery, corruption, malpractice or maladministration, in office? as in the case of an impeachment. ?The governor with consent of the council may remove any commissioned officer for reasonable cause upon the address of both houses of the legislature...? ...

Here?s the text of the bill of address:

The House of Representatives and Senate in General Court convened, under Part 2, Article 73 of the New Hampshire Constitution, satisfied that the public good requires that Michael Garner, Marital Master, should no longer hold and retain his judicial office and that there is reasonable cause for his removal, respectfully address and request the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, to remove said Marital Master Michael Garner from office.

The cause for removal of the said Michael Garner is that he brought his office and the judiciary into disrepute, and exceeded his constitutional authority and abused his discretion, resulting in the failure to preserve the rights of individuals appearing before him of their liberty by not providing an impartial interpretation of the laws, contrary to Part I, Article 35 of the New Hampshire Constitution, when he recommended to the presiding justice an order removing a child from an educational setting on the basis of religious prejudice, depriving them of their liberty of conscience guaranteed by Article 4 and their religious freedom guaranteed by Article 5 thereof.

The underlying case is apparently pending before the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on February 10, 2010 (boomark / email).