Four Democrat New Mexico state senators are backing a lawsuit claiming Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham violated the Constitution through her use of federal funds.
The suit was originally filed by Sen. Jacob Candelaria (D-Bernalillo) and Sen. Greg Baca (R-Belen). Sens. George Munoz (D-Gallup), Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), Jerry Ortiz y Pino (D-Bernalillo), and Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Bernalillo) are now backing the lawsuit by filing an amicus brief.
The brief, according to the Albuquerque Journal, states that the Constitution instructs “money shall be paid out of the treasury only upon appropriations made by the Legislature,” except interest or other payments on public debt.
“New Mexico’s Constitution and previous court rulings make it clear Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a fellow Democrat, should not have sole authority to decide how to spend what’s left of $1.7 billion in federal relief funds,” the documents state.
The brief said the Constitution creates a separation of powers “so that no one branch can attain disproportionate power.”
“The Constitution vests the appropriation power in legislators from 112 districts across the state because it is essential to have a diversity of interests represented when the Legislature sets spending priorities,” the four legislators wrote in their filing, according to the Pinon Post. “This representation of diverse views would be lost if the appropriation power were vested in one person.”