LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — January 28, 2004, Page 5

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bylaw has continued in existence since that time and is currently found in Bylaw 3.905 d, as quoted
above.
The first formal opinion of the Commission on Constitutional Matters based upon that bylaw was issued
as early as March 7, 1968, as agenda item 111. After the Commission had earlier issued an opinion as to
whether a District convention could recognize as a pastoral delegate an individual not on the roster of
Synod, the same issue was again submitted for consideration. The Commission recognized that the prior
opinion was binding and declined to rule further.
In 1976, during a very difficult period for the Synod, the Commission was asked to deal with a number of
issues regarding the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. The September 1976 minutes reflect
in agenda item 144 a challenge to an opinion of the Commission brought by Dr. J.A. O Preus, joined by
then legal counsel to the Synod, Phil Draheim. The minutes reflect that the request for rehearing was
made both on the initiative of Dr. Preus as well as at the request of the Missions Department, the Pension
Department, the Church Extension Fund, the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, and several
District Presidents. The Commission reminded the Synod, through its opinion, that the Synod had chosen
to accept the opinions of the Commission on Constitutional Matters as binding. Despite significant
disagreement within the Synod, the Synod chose, following that decision, not to change the Bylaws with
respect to the binding effect of the decision of the Commission.
Later in that same year, in December of 1976, the Commission discussed agenda item 210, which
involved a questionnaire from the Task Force on Constitution, Bylaws, and Structure. The Task Force
explored whether the items on the Commission’s agenda should be screened by the Board of Directors,
and whether the Commission’s decisions and opinions should not be of a binding nature until a
subsequent convention came to such a conclusion. Ultimately, both of those suggestions were rejected,
and the bylaw provisions regarding the binding nature of Commission on Constitutional Matters' opinions
remains.
In March, 1990, the Commission issued an opinion generally surveying the relative rights and
responsibilities of various agencies or entities of the Synod to interpret the Constitution and Bylaws of the
Synod in matters of adjudication and appeals. In the March, 1990 opinion, the Commission reiterated
that, under the bylaw then numbered Bylaw 3.533, “once a question is asked and an opinion rendered, no
other body has the right to alter or change it and the ‘opinion rendered by the Commission shall be
binding on the question decided unless and until it is overruled by a synodical convention.’”
The concept that the decisions of the Commission are binding unless and until overruled by the
convention has been recognized repeatedly since, as, for example, in a February, 1991 report in response
to a request from the President; in Opinion Ag. 2022 (January, 1996); in a July, 1999 response to a
request for reconsideration of Opinion 99-2144; and in opinions 99-2156 (September, 1999), 99-2162
(October, 1999), and 01-2240 (December, 2001).
Thus, the Synod in convention determines the structure of the Synod, and the Synod in convention has
expressly restricted the right of the Board of Directors to call up for review, criticism, modification, or
revocation opinions of the Commission on Constitutional Matters. Furthermore, despite multiple
opportunities to amend the Bylaws to eliminate the binding nature of Commission on Constitutional
Matters' opinions, the Synod in convention has recognized the need to empower an entity, subject only to
the convention itself, to have the authority to issue binding opinions regarding its Constitution and
Bylaws. The Synod in convention has chosen to continue to entrust that authority to the Commission on
Constitutional Matters. Any apparent conflict is not with the Commission on Constitutional Matters but
with the Constitution and Bylaws themselves.

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