Zoie Saunders, interim secretary of education, listens during Gov. Phil Scott’s weekly press conference held at the Central Vermont Technical Center in Barre on June 11. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by two Vermont state senators over Gov. Phil Scott’s appointment of Zoie Saunders as interim education secretary.The ruling came a day after Judge Robert Mello heard from both sides and signaled he would issue a speedy decision. Mello and the parties indicated Thursday the case could wind up appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court. “To the extent that the Senators argue that the Senate’s decision to not confirm Ms. Saunders prevents the Governor from reappointing her, whether on an interim or permanent basis, the court disagrees,” Mello wrote in his Friday order. READ MORE “When the legislature has wanted to so limit the Governor’s appointment power, it has simply said so,” he added, referencing legislation that prevents the governor from immediately reappointing someone to the Green Mountain Care Board after they’ve been rejected by the Senate. Sens. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden Central, and Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, sued Scott and Saunders in June over the governor’s decision to reappoint the education secretary immediately after the Vermont Senate voted 19-9 not to confirm Saunders. The lawmakers argued the governor cannot reappoint a secretary in an interim capacity after the Senate has already rejected that appointment in the same biennium. The executive branch argued the governor is well within his authority to do so, and that the lawmakers do not have standing to bring a case at all, calling the questions at hand “political.”Mello ultimately ruled that the senators did have standing to bring the case, but sided with the governor on the case’s merits. This story will be updated.Disclosure: Jared Carter, an attorney for the senators, is providing pro bono legal assistance to VTDigger in an unrelated public records case.Read the story on VTDigger here: Judge dismisses senators’ lawsuit over education secretary’s interim appointment.