PORTLAND — With more than a dozen lawmakers watching, Maine’s highest court waded into a dispute Friday between Gov. Paul LePage and the Legislature over whether he missed his opportunity to veto 65 bills.

The issue hinges on whether the Legislature had technically adjourned for the session. Legislative leaders contend the bills, including several LePage vehemently opposes, became law because the governor failed to either sign or veto them within 10 days. The Republican governor argued that the deadline didn’t apply because lawmakers had adjourned, but lawmakers contended they’d planned to return all along and told the governor’s staff as much.

Chief Justice Leigh Saufley said the court can issue only an advisory opinion after hearing the oral arguments but acknowledged it could clear up a potential constitutional crisis.

“If the court is going to opine on the issue, it should do so in a way that there’s greater clarity so that this confusion doesn’t happen again,” she said.

Among the bills were proposals to extend welfare benefits to asylum seekers, expand use to an antidote to drug overdoses and provide birth control for MaineCare recipients.

Cynthia Montgomery, the governor’s chief legal counsel, acknowledged Friday that the governor handled the issue differently in past years but said Paige reasonably believed that lawmakers had adjourned on June 30. “It was a decision by the governor to follow his own reading of the Maine Constitution,” she said.

But Tim Woodcock, an attorney representing the legislative leaders, told the justices that there was little room for ambiguity because legislative staff invited the governor to act and advised the governor’s staff of the return date. “It was clear as crystal. There can be no doubt about it,” he said.

After departing on June 30, lawmakers returned to session on July 16 to deal with any vetoes that had been submitted by the governor’s office while they were on break. The governor tried to send his vetoes to lawmakers on that date, which was outside the 10-day window, and lawmakers rejected them.

With the bills in limbo, LePage asked the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to weigh in, saying the potential constitutional crisis represents a “solemn occasion” that merits judicial intervention.

It’s rare that the judicial branch is asked to intervene in a dispute between the legislative and executive branches, and the courtroom was packed for Friday’s arguments. Some potential spectators were turned away.

“These are two branches of government disagreeing and asking a third branch of government to settle that dispute. That’s a pretty serious occasion, whatever the dispute,” said Zachary Heiden from the American Civil Liberties of Maine, one of eight parties that submitted legal briefs to the court.

Sen. Roger Katz, a Republican from Augusta who has been at odds with LePage at times, said he hopes the court’s advisory opinion will settle the matter. And he said he hopes that the summer provides a cooling off period.

“Is everybody going to be joining hands and singing ”˜Kumbaya’ after this decision? We’ll see,” he said. “Hopefully when we come back in the fall, we all will have had a good vacation and we’ll all get along better.”

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