Minnesota high court sides with Democrats in struggle with Republicans over control of state House

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court sided with Democrats on Friday in a power struggle with Republicans in the state House of Representatives but left it up to lawmakers to figure out a way to work together.

The justices unanimously agreed with House Democratic leaders who argued that a quorum in the House was 68 members under the state constitution, not the 67 that Republicans claimed. The House GOP holds a 67-66 majority pending a special election to fill an empty seat that’s expected around March 11. House Democrats have stayed away from the Capitol all session to try to prevent Republicans from exploiting their advantage.

The high court’s chief justice said Thursday that the disagreement had left the House “completely dysfunctional.” The court issued a three-page order Friday and said it would follow up with a detailed opinion explaining its legal reasoning later. The justices did not directly declare that all the actions that House Republicans have taken so far are legally invalid, as Democrats had wanted, but said they “assume that the parties will now conform to this order.”

House Democrats said the ruling “effectively invalidates every action Republicans took since the first day of session” last week.

“Republicans tried to seize power that the voters did not give them,” the top House Democrat, Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said in a statement. “Now that it is clear Republicans must work with Democrats for the House to operate, I am hopeful we will be able to shortly negotiate an acceptable path forward. We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and return to the negotiating table immediately.”

House Republicans were noncommittal in their initial public reaction about whether they’re willing to reopen talks.

“This decision drives home the fact that House Democrats are disrespecting not just their own constituents, but the entire state of Minnesota by refusing to do their jobs,” the top GOP leader, Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, said in a statement. “House Republicans will be showing up to work on Monday — it’s time for the Democrats’ walkout to end and for the legislature to get on with its work.”

Hortman and other Democratic leaders had expressed hope before the ruling that a win for them would at least incentivize their GOP counterparts to negotiate a power-sharing agreement similar to one that they agreed to after the November election when it looked like the House would be tied 67-67 when the Legislature convened its 2025 session Jan. 14.

That agreement collapsed after a Ramsey County judge ruled that the Democratic winner of a Roseville-area seat didn’t live in his district and was ineligible. That gave Republicans a temporary one-seat majority. The eventual special election to fill the seat is expected to restore the tie because it’s a heavily Democratic district. After the session convened last week, Republicans pressed forward with voting to elect Demuth as speaker, introducing legislation and holding hearings.

It wasn’t immediately clear exactly what will happen Monday afternoon when the House is scheduled to reconvene. Under state law, the secretary of state convenes the opening session of the House and serves as presiding officer until a quorum is present and a speaker is elected, which is normally a fairly quick formality.

Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon, who adjourned the first day’s floor session after declaring there was no quorum, said in a statement that he’ll try again, though he didn’t specify when.

“I look forward to re-convening the House of Representatives — and to working with an organized legislature to advance the interests of all Minnesotans,” Simon said in a statement.

House Democrats have also said they won’t return to the Capitol until Republicans promise not to refuse to seat Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke, of Shakopee, who won reelection by just 14 votes in a swing district where the GOP would stand a good chance of winning a low-turnout special election. Republicans have refused to give that assurance, even though a Scott County judge declared Tabke the legal winner. Denying Tabke his seat would lock in the GOP majority at least until that seat could be filled.

In trying to block a quorum, House Democrats are using tactics that lawmakers around the country have tried at least two dozen times before to thwart their opponents. While it’s unusual in Minnesota, it’s not a first for the state. In 1857, Republicans wanted to move the Minnesota Territory’s capital from St. Paul to St. Peter, about 75 miles (121 kilometers) away. A Democratic lawmaker took physical possession of the bill and hid in a local hotel until it was too late to act on the measure.

The Minnesota Constitution says a “majority of each house constitutes a quorum to transact business.” But lawyers for both sides pointed during oral arguments Thursday to various passages in the state and federal constitutions, statutes, case law and rules in Congress and other states to show that it’s not necessarily a simple question. Republicans argued that the court did not have the authority under the constitutional separation of powers to review how the Legislature organizes itself or its leadership choices.

Chief Justice Natalie Hudson said during those proceedings that while the courts are rightfully hesitant to dabble in the business of another branch of government, there are also times when the courts are required to step in.

“What we have is a co-equal branch of government that is completely dysfunctional, that is not doing the will and the work of the people of Minnesota,” she said. “Isn’t that an instance where, if not the judicial branch, who? Who steps in to resolve that?”

In contrast to the turmoil in the House, the Minnesota Senate, which is tied 33-33, is operating smoothy under a power-sharing agreement pending a Jan. 28 special election to fill the seat of a senator from a heavily Democratic district who died in December.