The warring parties in the Minnesota House of Representatives shutdown will be returning to the state Supreme Court next week, in an effort to break the three-week-old impasse. In this round, it’s the 67 House Republicans suing Secretary of State Steve Simon.
The GOP lawsuit centers on Simon’s refusal to comply with the state Constitution’s Art. 4 Sec. 13.
A majority of each house constitutes a quorum to transact business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and compel the attendance of absent members in the manner and under the penalties it may provide. [Emphases added.]
Simon appears to be taking the absurd position that, since a quorum (68 members) has not been established, it can never be established by compelling “the attendance of absent members,” which in this case are the chamber’s 66 boycotting Democrats.
Simon is leaning hard on an obscure provision in state law (M.S. Chapter 5.05):
The secretary of state shall attend at the beginning of each legislative session, to call the members of the house of representatives to order and to preside until a speaker is elected.
Prior to 2025, the role of the SOS at the House session opening, and the corresponding role of the Lt. Governor at the state Senate, were seen as purely ceremonial, part of the pageantry kicking off each new two-year sitting of the state legislature.
But Simon has twisted that seven-word phrase “to preside until a speaker is elected” into total control of the chamber. Simon insists on his “right” to preside over the chamber but refuses to accept an accompanying obligation to make the chamber function. Simon has conspired with the minority House Democrats to prevent the chamber from functioning.
But Simon has created another problem, one which may be unsolvable. Another provision of the state Constitution (Art. 4, Sec. 12) reads:
Neither house during a session of the legislature shall adjourn for more than three days (Sundays excepted) nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be assembled without the consent of the other house.
If you look at the official House Journal for 2025, a meeting was recorded on January 14, and not another one until January 27, some 13 days later. No consent of the state Senate was received for this long break, as the two chambers are not on speaking terms as of yet. This constitutional provision appears absolute (“neither house” “shall”) and the constitution provides no cure for a violation.
Republicans point out in their lawsuit another problem with Simon’s conduct: his irregular and unilateral adjournment of the body each time he presides. It could be argued that, through Simon’s refusal to follow the proper form, the House’s 2025 regular session has already been expended for the year, if not for the entire two-year cycle. Certainly, any subsequent action of the 94th Legislature could be challenged on the basis of its various constitutional and procedural violations.
Since January 14, House Republicans hold a 67-66 majority in the chamber, with one vacant seat. The special election to fill the seat has yet to be scheduled. Inexplicably, House Democrats continue to insist that a 67-67 tie exists, against all available evidence and logic.
One last irregularity from Simon. He originally said he was going to gavel the House to order every day at 3:30 p.m. until a quorum was reached. But on Thursday, he declared the House adjourned until Monday, taking Friday off. He’s clearly just making it up as he goes along at this point. There is no more constitutional authority for him to take Friday off as there is for him to convene the session each day.
The Supreme Court will hear the latest dispute on Thursday, February 6, at 10:00 a.m.
Reminder: All of this can be remedied by just one member of the House Democratic Caucus showing up for work.
Pressure building on House
Steady pressure has been building on House Democrats to return to session. Their original calculation was a two-week hiatus from St. Paul before a January 28, 2025, special session would clarify the final count of members. But those two weeks have turned into nearly two months of not showing up for work.
American Experiment’s campaign to legislators and Gov. Walz to get to work has garnered over 20,000 emails, most of them directed at House Democrats. As we wrote about here, House Democrats are sending long tortured emails back to constituents trying to explain the unexplainable.
We’re also not the only organization putting pressure on the House DFL. Americans For Prosperity is running a series of ads with a call to action in what looks like swing districts in the House held currently by Democrats. A sample:
The temporary public relations problem for House Democrats is going to turn into a permanent election-year liability for legislators who fail to show up for work. The party that gets blamed for shutting down the government always loses at the next election (see Republicans in 2012).
Even the liberal writers at The Reformer are reporting on the pressure building on House Democrats. Editor Patrick Coolican wrote about it last week:
FWIW: I was at Drinking Liberally last night, and folks there were concerned that House Republicans are winning on the messaging front because their hit is simple — “Democrats should get to work” — whereas House Dems have to get in the weeds of the situation around Rep. Brad Tabke’s seat. Republicans won’t commit to seating Tabke, who won a close race in the south metro. Still and all, they messed up the 40B race when they endorsed a candidate who didn’t live in the district.
The next shoe to drop in this saga is recall petitions, which we understand are working their way through the legal department at the Minnesota Republican Party. It only takes 25 signatures in each DFL district to put a recall petition on Steve Simon’s desk. His nonpartisan “referee” reputation is falling apart as all eyes will be on him once again when the recall petitions arrive at his office.
There is a clear case for nonfeasance and the recall petitions should be forwarded to the Supreme Court once the signatures are verified.
One of these days Capitol Watch will cover some actual policy.