# State Ex Rel. Olson v. Thompson

> North Dakota Supreme Court · December 5, 1976 · 248 N.W.2d 347

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9659784

## Case

- **Full name:** STATE Ex Rel. Allen I. OLSON, Attorney General, and Ben Meier, Secretary of State, Petitioners, v. Alfred THOMPSON, Judge of the Burleigh County District Court, and Norma J. Kuhn, Respondents
- **Court:** North Dakota Supreme Court
- **Decided:** December 5, 1976
- **Citations:** 248 N.W.2d 347; 1976 N.D. LEXIS 169
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Pederson
- **Judges:** Paulson, Pederson, Vogel, Erickstad, Sand
- **Cited by:** 8 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9659784

## Opinion text

PEDERSON, Justice
(concurring in part).
I concur in the quashing of the writs issued by the judge of the district court of Burleigh County. I do not concur in all that is said about what kinds of things are idle acts. However, I agree that no one should be commanded to perform idle acts. This court engages in an idle act when it commands a board over which it has no jurisdiction (the State Board of Canvassers) to meet and to take any corrective action.
Because § 47 of the North Dakota Constitution must be superimposed upon all statutes assigning tasks to either the executive or the judicial branch of government, in a legislative election contest, only those functions which expedite or facilitate the legislative determination are not idle acts.
*357 If the State Board of Canvassers decides voluntarily to meet and if it recognizes that the legislature will not need any more certifications to show that there is an election contest, then the State Board of Canvassers will conclude that it is not necessary that such board do anything because it would only be an idle act.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9659784. Public record. Not legal advice.