About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

2003 South Dakota Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2003)

handle is hein.sag/sagsd0019 and id is 1 raw text is: February 14, 2003 The Honorable Chris Nelson Secretary of State 500 East Capitol Avenue, Ste. 204 Pierre, SD 57501-5070 OFFICIAL OPINION 03-01 Pardons Dear Secretary of State Nelson: You have requested an official Attorney General's opinion regarding the following factual situation: FACTS: The Secretary of State is required under SDCL 1-8-1(1) and (2) to affix the great seal to and file pardons issued by the governor. I have received a request to disclose the names of individuals who are named on Orders Granting Pardon that were filed in the Secretary of State's Office from 1995 through 2002. All of the pardons issued during this period of time include language similar to the following: It is further ordered that all official records relating to this personal offense, along with all recordation relating to the defendant's arrest, indictment or information, trial, finding of guilt and receipt of a pardon are hereby sealed pursuant to § 24-14-11 of the South Dakota Codified Laws. Based upon this factual situation, you asked the following questions: QUESTION NO. 1: Are all Orders Granting Pardon required to be sealed? QUESTION NO. 2: If the answer to Question No. 1 is no and some Orders Granting Pardon are subject to disclosure, how do I determine which pardons may be discloted? A brief discussion of South Dakota open records laws and pardons is necessary to give context to the answers to your questions. OPEN RECORDS LAWS As you have correctly noted, the Secretary of State is specifically required to keep and file pardons pursuant to SDCL 1-8-1(1) and (2). which state as follows: It is the duty of the secretary of state: (1) To file official acts of the Governor to which attestation over his signature and the great seal is required; (2) To affix the great seal and his attestation to all commissions, pardons, and other public instruments. This statute gives direction on whether the records are public. SDCL 1-8-1(2) states that the Secretary of State is to affix the seal and attest to all commissions, pardons and other public instruments to which the signature of the Governor is required and then enumerates certain exceptions (none of which is applicable here). Use of the term other public instruments immediately following the reference to pardons is meaningful. It is apparent that the term is designed to include a group of similar documents, all of which are public. In the absence of such interpretation, the term other would be surplusage. Indeed, effect should be given to every part and every word of the statute being interpreted. Maynard v. Heeren, 563 N.W.2d 830 (1997). Accordingly, the general law applying to the Secretary of State provides that pardons are public. The foregoing general rule is consistent with the policy set forth in SDCL 1-27-1. In that statute, the legislature declared its public record policy. The statute provides, in pertinent part:

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most