2/12/25 Bill Review
SF0160 Treatment courts-amendments-2 is UNCONSTITUTIONAL because it violates the basic separation of powers that guide all levels of government in our Republic – the three branches of government which we were all taught in grade school! This is clearly defined in our Wyoming State Constitution:
Article 2, Section 1. Powers of government divided into three departments.
The powers of the government of this state are divided into three distinct departments: The legislative, executive and judicial, and no person or collection of persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as in this constitution expressly directed or permitted.
Article 5, Section 16. Supreme court judges limited to judicial duties.
No duties shall be imposed by law upon the supreme court or any of the judges thereof, except such as are judicial, nor shall any of the judges thereof exercise any power of appointment except as herein provided.
SF0160 intends to amend the Court Supervised Treatment Program Act to expand Wyoming Supreme Court control over mental health treatment along with substance abuse. It is a fact that there is a rise in mental health issues, however this agenda to place the Wyoming Supreme Court over mental health treatment is not only unconstitutional but perverse because it displays a deliberate and obstinate desire to ignore what is unreasonable and unacceptable. While solving the mental health crisis is no easy task, this is exactly what our executive branch should be working on, rather than haphazardly kicking this issue to a separate and unrelated branch of government. Governor Gordon needs to do better.
Particularly noteworthy: In 2021 a LGBTQ+ Youth Training Session was conducted by the Wyoming Supreme Court Children’s Justice Project on the “legal and ethical obligations in working with LGBTQ+ children and youth“. The training is offered for “judges, attorneys, social workers, advocates, law enforcement, families, and others regarding the Wyoming child welfare system“. The content in this 1 1/2 hour training session is mind-boggling as it trains legal professionals to abandon basic biological reality and enter the world of never-ending sexual orientations and pronouns (screenshots below). Combine this fantastical training of judges along with the potential of our WY Supreme Court overseeing mental health treatment and our state will have a powder-keg of troubles that our state might never recover from.
