An Indiana state judge concurred with the Republican governor of the state over the state’s Republican attorney general in a decision regarding a case where the governor is suing the Republican-led state legislature, the Associated Press reports.

Governor Eric Holcomb defeated the motion brought by Attorney General Todd Rokita after Rokita declared that only the state’s attorney general can determine if a law passed by the state legislature is legal.   Judge Patrick Dietrick sided with the governor in settling the motion, saying the power to determine if a law is legal lies with the Governor, a decision that allows a lawsuit filed against the state legislature by the governor to proceed.

“This is an absurd result that could not have been intended by either the drafters of Indiana’s Constitution or the General Assembly,” Dietrick said.

Holcomb is suing the state legislature over a bill it passed which gave itself the ability to call the state legislature into “emergency session,” a power the state constitution gives only to the Governor.  The Indiana State Legislature passed a law in April giving itself power to call an “emergency session” as Republican criticized the state’s mask mandate to fight the coronavirus pandemic.  Holcomb vetoed the bill, and the legislature overrode the veto.  Holcomb is now suing to have the state courts determine the legality of the law.

Rokita, who lost the GOP primary for governor to Holcomb in 2016, refused Holcomb’s request to take the matter to court and sue the legislature, with Rokita arguing it was his obligation, as state attorney general, to decide if the state’s executive branch could sue, challenging the legality of a law.  Viewed as farther right than Holcomb, Rokita sided with far-right state legislature.  Rokita claimed the Attorney General was the only “authorized counsel” to the Governor; therefore, any lawyer claiming to represent the Governor should be ignored.

Dietrick said the Attorney General cannot “unilaterally block” a lawsuit brought by the Governor.  “A sitting governor is sworn to uphold the Indiana Constitution,” Dietrick wrote. “He or she cannot abdicate that duty to private citizens. Nothing in the Indiana Constitution suggests otherwise.”

“The outcome is important for Gov. Holcomb and how future governors who operate in times of emergency,” the governor’s general counsel, Joe Heerens, said in a statement.