North Dakota
North Dakota Supreme Court hears arguments on term limits lawsuit
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Supreme Court heard arguments on Thursday, April 2, over a lawsuit challenging voter-approved
term limits for state lawmakers.
The lawsuit, filed in late January, claims the Legislature violated the state constitution when it passed a resolution creating a ballot measure during the 2025 session, just four years after voters approved term limits.
In 2022, North Dakota residents approved capping term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. Supporters of the original amendment say it included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” said Zachary Wallen, lawyer for the petitioners.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
During the 2025 session, lawmakers narrowly approved an amendment that would allow them to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years. That plan requires voter approval.
“The people are voting on this, they have an opportunity to speak their voice on this,” said Brian Schmidt, lawyer for the North Dakota Legislature.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
Justice Jon Jensen questioned whether a second vote was appropriate. “The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it. You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second,” Jensen said.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
A central question is whether the Supreme Court has the authority to issue an opinion in the case before the amendment process is complete.
“This court has said it will not pass (judgment) on the constitutionality of a proposed amendment until that process is complete. The process is not complete yet,” Schmidt said.
The Secretary of State’s office wants the Supreme Court to issue an opinion by the end of June so the office has enough time to prepare for the general election in November.
Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke and former Minot Republican Sen. Oley Larsen filed the lawsuit.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
Matt Henson is an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the main anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.
North Dakota
North Dakota voters to decide single-subject requirement for future constitutional amendments on June 9
BRECKENRIDGE — Coaches, teammates, friends and family gathered in the south parking lot of Breckenridge High School for another state tournament sendoff.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
This year, it was Troy Berndt taking the ceremonial convertible ride. He is headed to St. Michael-Albertville High School for the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet on June 4-6.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
He will be running in the third heat of the 400-meter prelims, scheduled for 4:52 p.m. June 4. There are seven athletes in each heat, 21 total, and nine will advance to the finals at 6:20 p.m. June 5.
The top two finishers in each heat advance, along with the next three best times. Berndt’s personal best time of 50.67 has him seeded 13th, but the 10th-, 11th- and 12th-seeded runners are less than five hundredths of a second ahead of him. The eighth- and ninth-seeded runners are also close, at 50.33 and 50.39, respectively.
Berndt dropped nearly seven-tenths of a second from his previous personal best at the Section 6A West Subsection Meet on May 21, running 51.35, and shaved another 0.68 seconds off at the Section 6A Championships on May 28 with a time of 50.67. If he keeps lowering his time, he will have a shot at reaching the podium against the best runners in Class A.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
Results and photos will be available online immediately following the race June 4 and in the June 10 print edition of the Wahpeton Daily News.
Corbin Lee is a sports reporter for the Wahpeton Daily News and Richland County News-Monitor. Corbin can be reached by calling (701) 291-3551 or emailing corbin.lee@wahpetondailynews.com.
On this day in 1971, Rugby repeated as North Dakota’s high school sand greens golf champion behind medalist Dwight Stempson’s winning performance.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Rugby Repeats As Sand Greens Golf Champion
RUGBY, N. D. — Rugby repeated as North Dakota high school sand greens golf champion here Wednesday, posting a four-man total of 293 strokes for 18 holes.
Led by medalist Dwight Stempson’s medalist 36-35 — 71, the Panthers were eight strokes ahead of runnerup Stanley, which had a 301. Following were Garrison 311, Beulah 315, Leeds 322, Ashley 323, Bottineau 328, Pembina 329, Tioga 332, Parshall 341 and Hettinger 342.
Stempson and teammate Bruce Carlson each had one-under par 71s, but Carlson was unable to be at the regional and wasn’t qualified for individual honors.
Rounding out the Rugby totals were Delwin Wilson 40-37 — 77 and Dennett Hutchinson 35-39 — 74. Gary Kirchoffner, 41-39 — 80, was Rugby’s fifth entrant with the best four-of-five scores counted.
Runnerup Stanley was led by Steve Springan’s 34-38 — 72 and Joe Springan’s 36-38 — 74. Their two-man total of 146 strokes was good enough for the doubles title. Two strokes back with a 148 was the duo of Stempson and Wilson. Stan Saathoff and Mike Stepina of Garrison each had 76s for a 152 total and the Ashley combo of Steve Maier (76) and Dave Kretschmar (78) was fourth with a 154.
Stempson was the driving contest winner with a distance of 280 yards. Chris Knutson of Garrison headed the pitch and putt competition.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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