Nunn v. Baker
Decision Date | 06 November 1987 |
Citation | 518 So.2d 711 |
Parties | Rhonda NUNN v. John BAKER, as Chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee, et al. 86-93. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
The original opinion in this case is withdrawn and the following is substituted therefor:
When this election contest was originally submitted to us, we followed our usual procedures for determining whether we had jurisdiction over the matter, and, discovering no jurisdictional bar to our consideration of the case, proceeded to render a decision on the merits. In their application for rehearing, the defendants-appellees now raise for the first time the question of whether this Court had jurisdiction. They submit that we had no jurisdiction over the case, and they argue that our original opinion must therefore be withdrawn and the appeal dismissed. For the reasons set forth below, we agree with the defendants-appellees.
Although it is settled law that this Court will generally not consider matters on rehearing that were not raised during the appeal, Stover v. Alabama Farm Bureau Ins. Co., 467 So.2d 251 (Ala.1985), jurisdictional matters are of such magnitude that we take notice of them at any time and do so even ex mero motu. Horn v. Dunn Brothers, Inc., 262 Ala. 404, 79 So.2d 11 (1955).
We are therefore compelled to consider the jurisdictional question now before us. We nevertheless urge the members of the bar to raise such issues at the earliest possible moment in the presentation of a case before this Court. Concomitant with our duty to consider jurisdictional matters is at least an equal duty on the part of the lawyers of this state to present such dispositive matters in the timeliest possible fashion. The time and energy of this Court are not infinite, and the waste of either must be scrupulously avoided if we are to sustain the quality of decision expected of us.
In Buskey v. Amos, 294 Ala. 1, 310 So.2d 468 (1975), this Court held that it had lost jurisdiction over an election contest based on a challenge to the residency qualifications of a candidate for the state senate. In Buskey, the challenged candidate had been certified as his party's nominee; his name had been placed on the general election ballot; he had been elected to the state senate by the people of his district; he had been certified by the Secretary of State as having been elected to the senate; and he had taken the oath for the office of state senator, all before the challenge was submitted to this Court. The Court held that it had no jurisdiction over the question of the challenged candidate's residency qualifications after he had taken office, because such questions were constitutionally committed to the state legislature:
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