We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.

Minnesota is a purple state, balanced on a knife’s edge, as the 2024 election showed. There are 134 Minnesota House districts, and when the returns were in, it looked like Republicans had gained enough seats so that the House would be tied, 67-67. But then it came to light that one of the Democrats’ candidates had cheated: in House District 40B, Democrat Curtis Johnson falsely claimed to reside in the district, a constitutional requirement.

His Republican opponent filed an election contest, which was successful, as the evidence against the Democrat was overwhelming. A district court issued an injunction barring Johnson from taking that seat. A special election will be held to fill the seat at some time in the future; the exact schedule is now the subject of litigation. So currently there are 133 elected representatives holding election certificates: 67 Republicans and 66 Democrats. Republicans hold a majority, brought about by the fact that Democrats cheated and got caught.

Democrats are panicked over the prospect that they will lose control over one house of Minnesota’s legislature, and they have determined on a desperate strategy. The 2024 legislative session begins on Tuesday, and all 66 Democrats are going to refuse to show up for work. Their theory is that by hiding out, they will prevent the establishment of a quorum, and thereby disable Minnesota’s House (effectively, the entire legislature) from doing any business. They hope that at some point in the future, they will win a special election in 40B, at which time they say they will go back to work. Meanwhile, they intend to continue drawing their pay as legislators.

Will that contemptible strategy work? I don’t think so. The controlling constitutional provision is Article IV, Section 13:

Quorum. 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.

In my legal opinion, the language is perfectly clear. Currently, there are 133 (not 134) members of the Minnesota House. Section 13 doesn’t say the majority of districts, of which there are 134, it says the majority of the house, which has 133 members. So 67 votes are a majority, and a quorum.

Under the Constitution, Minnesota’s Secretary of State, Steve Simon, has the ceremonial duty of opening each annual session of the Minnesota House. (The Lieutenant Governor convenes the Senate.) This duty is entirely ceremonial; Simon has no authority to wield executive power of any sort, or issue any rulings. Nevertheless, Simon, a partisan hack, has written an eight-page “legal opinion” in which he argues that 68 votes should be required for a quorum. He sets a number of angels dancing on the heads of a number of pins, but has to admit that there is no controlling authority supporting his interpretation.

And, in fact, the only relevant authority is to the contrary. During Minnesota’s Constitutional Convention, the question of what constitutes a quorum came up. The consensus was that the language, as now contained in the Article IV, was clear:

Mr. Morgan: I conceive that the word “majority” means a majority of the members sworn in. … There can be no other meaning attached to it, for we frequently find ourselves without a quorum, which is, less than a majority of the members sworn in.

Based on that consensus, an amendment to the existing language was voted down.

This same interpretation prevails at the federal level. In language virtually identical to Minnesota’s Constitution, Article I of the U.S. Constitution provides that “…a Majority of each [house] shall constitute a Quorum to do Business.” The U.S. Constitution is interpreted in exactly the manner that I set forth above:

A quorum of the House is defined as a majority of those Members sworn and living, whose membership has not been terminated by resignation or by House action. Manual §53; 4 Hinds §§ 2889, 2890; 6 Cannon §638; Deschler Ch 20 § 1; § 5, infra. Thus, when there are no vacancies, a quorum to do business is 218 Members. When the membership has been reduced by reason of death, resignation, expulsion, disqualification, or removal to 432, a quorum to do business is 217 Members. 94-2, June 18, 1976, p 19312. This long-standing practice was codified in the 108th Congress by adoption of clause 5(c) (now 5(d)) of rule XX.

Emphasis added. In Minnesota, we have a vacancy in District 40B. Why? Because the Democratic candidate cheated and got caught. Like the federal Constitution, Minnesota’s Constitution provides that while there are 133 certified members, not 134, 67 votes are a majority and a quorum.

Given these clear legal principles, it seems shocking that Democrats are planning to stage a walkout. If that actually happens, and if Steve Simon tries to shore up their position by issuing a bogus “legal opinion” for which he has zero authority, Republican House members should simply proceed to do the people’s business. They should elect a sergeant at arms, a clerk and a Speaker. They should organize the committees of the House and begin processing legislation. Minority Democrats can either join in and do their jobs, or continue their boycott. Their choice.

Minnesota law provides that legislators may be recalled from office for misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance. For a member of the legislature, deliberately not showing up for work is the ultimate nonfeasance, and trying to interfere with the ability of other legislators to do their jobs is malfeasance. Republicans are ready to file recall petitions against any Democrats who follow through on their threat to try to paralyze the legislature.

Do Minnesota’s House Republicans have the guts to do the right thing and stand up for our state’s Constitution and laws, and for the voters who elected them? I think they do. Their leadership–Speaker-to-be Lisa Demuth and Majority Leader-to-be Harry Niska–is both strong and able, and the caucus is united.

I think there is a very real prospect that this crisis will serve to discredit the Democrat Farmer Labor party in the eyes of voters, so that its tenuous grip on power will be decisively broken, and Minnesota will swing to the right. The action will play out in the coming days, and we will continue to report.