Memorandum Number 1033

Request from the California-Pacific Annual Conference for a Declaratory Decision on the Constitutionality, Meaning, Application, and Effect of ¶¶ 324.14 of the 2004 Discipline with Respect to the Withdrawal of a Recommendation for Probationary Membership by the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry in Response to the Lack of an Appointment for a Candidate.

During the 2005 regular session of the California-Pacific Annual Conference, the Annual Conference requested a declaratory decision on the following question:

Once the conference board of ordained ministry has voted by a two-thirds majority to recommend a candidate for probationary membership under Para. 324.14, is it an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers for the Board of Ordained Ministry to withdraw its recommendation because the Bishop does not have an appointment for the candidate?

Although the record reflects the request for declaratory decision, it provides little else upon which the Judicial Council can logically proceed. Nothing in the record supplied suggests that the California-Pacific Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry acted under episcopal direction in withholding any written recommendation to the clergy session of the Annual Conference. The separation of powers question is moot and hypothetical.

Digest

The Judicial Council declines jurisdiction due to the inadequacy of the record.