Photo courtesy Paul Zukerberg.

Update: Current Attorney General Irv Nathan issued a statement on the Court’s ruling. His office is working with the D.C. Board of Elections and plans to appeal the ruling. Here’s a statement from Nathan:

We are studying the Court’s Order and awaiting its opinion. We continue to believe that the Council of the District of Columbia had the authority to interpret the 2010 Charter Amendment to authorize a statute scheduling the Attorney General election to be in 2018, and we will be drafting a petition to the full en banc court of the D.C. Court of Appeals on that key point. We will also be working with the Board of Elections and the Council to develop a full explanation of the practical and legal issues associated with rushing to hold the Attorney General election in 2014, which we will present in any further Superior Court proceedings following the Court of Appeals’ final decision.

Original post:

Looks like there will be an attorney general election this year after all.

Earlier today, the D.C. Court of Appeals issued their ruling and sided with Paul Zukerberg—a lawyer and former At-Large Council candidate—that there is to be an attorney general election in 2014. Zukerberg filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against the D.C. Council earlier this year after they passed a bill delaying an attorney general election until at least 2018.

A Superior Court judge ultimately ruled with the Council, leaving Zukerberg and his attorney, Gary Thompson, to file an appeal with the Court of Appeals. According to the ruling, the Court of Appeals “[determined] that the Superior Court’s interpretation was incorrect as a matter of law and reverse.” Although the Court of Appeals says they’ll publish a longer opinion later, they stated in the ruling that original language in Elected Attorney General Act is ambiguous in stating the election “shall be after January 1, 2014,” and that the attorney general referendum that was ratified by a majority of D.C. voters last year made it seem as though the election would take place in 2014.

“It follows from our holding that an election must be held in 2014,” the ruling states, “unless it would not be practically possible for BOEE to do so under the applicable statutory and regulatory provisions.” If, for whatever reason, the BOEE cannot establish the election this year, “then [it] must be held as soon thereafter in 2015 as is practically possible.”

“I feel on top of the world,” Zukerberg tells DCist in a phone call. With the promptness of the Court of Appeals’ ruling, Zukerberg says that there’s enough time to get the attorney general election on the November ballot. It’s up to the D.C. Board of Election “to work quickly and expeditiously” to ensure that happens, by establishing deadlines for candidates to file campaign papers and collect petition signatures.

“Citizens of the District of Columbia have the right to amend their charter,” Zukerberg says, “and when they do, the elected officials have to respect that vote. That’s what this case stands for.”