Constitutional Law

[1] The State first asserts that it is immune from suit in the courts of this State. We need not pause long to consider this asserted jurisdictional hurdle. RSA 491:22 has long been construed to permit challenges to the constitutionality of actions by our government or its branches.

In Levitt v. Maynard, 104 N.H. 243, 182 A.2d 897 (1962), brought as a petition for declaratory judgment against the attorney general and the secretary of state, the plaintiff brought a fourteenth amendment due process attack against a provision of our State Constitution addressing the apportionment of senatorial districts. We reaffirmed that ?(f)or more than half a century pleading and procedure in this jurisdiction has been a means to an end and it should never become more important than the purpose which it seeks to accomplish.? Id. at 244, 182 A.2d at 898 (quoting Ricker v. Mathews, 94 N.H. 313, 318, 53 A.2d 196, 199 (1947)). We have thus granted taxpayers standing to raise constitutional issues by bringing declaratory judgment petitions. See, e. g., Gerber v. King, 107 N.H. 495, 497, 225 A.2d 620, 621 (1967).