The Minnesota Legislature’s Failure to Launch (Court Report)

The vast majority of state legislatures are only active for several months a year. Few states can afford to lose any of this finite period of time, but this year, Minnesota’s legislature has yet to even leave the gate. As we covered recently, the state’s Republican and Democratic legislators are now locked in a standoff. The roadblock has been caused by a boycott of the session by Democratic legislators, which has left the state supreme court deeply entrenched in the conflict. 

The main point of contention within the legislature is which party has control. After the November election, the parties were left with a completely even split in the House of Representatives with 67 representatives from each party. However, one of the recently elected House Democratic (DFL) legislators was forced to resign before the session even began when a judge ruled that he did not live within the district he represented. This left the DFL one vote shy of a tie in the House. On December 27, Governor Walz (D) ordered a special election to be held on January 28 to fill the open seat. However, Republicans asserted that the governor’s order was invalid because it was made prior to the session, at a time when the incumbent was technically still in office, and the seat was, therefore, not vacant. The dispute over when to fill the vacant seat was one of the issues on which 66 House DFL representatives’ decision to boycott was based. However, the uncertainty regarding this issue did not last long, as the state supreme court weighed in on the issue on January 17, three days after the legislative session was scheduled to begin, siding with House Republicans and postponing the special election, likely until at least March.

Despite the resolution of the special election argument, the boycotting DFL representatives have not returned to the House. This is because the DFL walkout was also based on Republican claims that, as a result of the vacant seat, they are the controlling majority in the House. On the first day of session, Republicans proceeded to elect a speaker of the House in a 67-0 vote due to DFL legislators’ refusal to participate. DFL legislators immediately filed suit against Republicans, asserting that the GOP did not have a lawful quorum when the speaker vote was conducted, making such a vote invalid. A quorum is the minimum number of legislators required to be present in order for the legislature to conduct business.  Only a week after resolving the special election conflict, the Minnesota Supreme Court sided with the Democrats, holding that a quorum requires 68 members of the House to be present to convene and do business, invalidating any actions taken thus far in this year’s session. 

DFL and Republican legislators are now engaged in a political game of “chicken,” with DFL members refusing to attend the session without a power-sharing deal in place. To complicate matters further, the DFL regained control over the Senate just last week, so conservatives in the House may be less likely to settle. With two supreme court decisions already under its belt, the 2025 Minnesota Legislature is off to what will surely be a memorable, if not unproductive, session.