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Minnesota's high court will weigh intervening in a partisan struggle roiling the state Legislature

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Minnesota's high court will weigh intervening in a partisan struggle roiling the state Legislature
News

News

Minnesota's high court will weigh intervening in a partisan struggle roiling the state Legislature

2025-01-23 03:50 Last Updated At:04:02

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on whether it should wade into a partisan power struggle that has roiled the state House for over a week, with Democratic lawmakers boycotting the state Capitol to try to prevent their Republican colleagues from exploiting their temporary one-seat majority.

Although the standoff is unusual for Minnesota, lawmakers have resorted to the tactic many times elsewhere. They've even gone into hiding in other states to prevent state troopers or sergeants-at-arms from dragging members back to their statehouse to ensure enough members are present to conduct business.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz briefs reporters on his budget proposal, on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn., which would require approval from a deeply divided legislature. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz briefs reporters on his budget proposal, on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn., which would require approval from a deeply divided legislature. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The gate to the Minnesota House of Representatives chamber stands locked on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The gate to the Minnesota House of Representatives chamber stands locked on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The Democratic side of the Minnesota House chamber was empty for a second straight day Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn., as Democrats continued their boycott in a power struggle with Republicans. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The Democratic side of the Minnesota House chamber was empty for a second straight day Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn., as Democrats continued their boycott in a power struggle with Republicans. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota House Republican leader Lisa Demuth speaks to reporters on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota House Republican leader Lisa Demuth speaks to reporters on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota House Democratic leaders Melissa Hortman and Jamie Long speak at a news conference on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota House Democratic leaders Melissa Hortman and Jamie Long speak at a news conference on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Roughly half of the Minnesota House seats remain empty as Democrats fail to show up after the legislative session gaveled in on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

Roughly half of the Minnesota House seats remain empty as Democrats fail to show up after the legislative session gaveled in on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

A complex chess game has been playing out since the November election resulted in a 67-67 tie in the House. The chamber's top Democratic and Republican leaders worked out most of a power-sharing agreement, but the deal fell apart after a Ramsey County judge ruled that the Democratic winner of a Roseville-area seat didn't really live in his district. That meant the session would start with a 67-66 GOP majority pending a special election to fill that seat, which is expected to restore the tie because it's a heavily Democratic district.

Gov. Tim Walz initially called the special election for Jan. 28, which would have limited the standoff to about two weeks. But the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Democratic governor set the date too early because the seat, vacated by a retiring lawmaker, didn't officially become open until the Legislature convened last Tuesday. Walz is expected to reschedule it for around March 11, about eight weeks away, but under the law it's too early for him to announce it.

David Schultz, a political scientist at Hamline University who specializes in election and constitutional law, said the dispute might make for interesting political theater but it’s no way to govern.

“From a spectator’s point of view, it’s great. From a political science professor or law professor’s point of view, it’s a question I should ask on an exam. But from the public interest point of view, it’s absolutely horrible,” Schultz said.

The state's highest court will tackle the broader dispute Thursday when it hears oral arguments on petitions by Democrats to declare that a quorum under the state constitution and other rules is 68 members present — a majority of the seats — and that everything the GOP has done since convening last week is legally invalid. House Republicans argue that the required quorum for the House to organize itself, elect a speaker and appoint committees is just 67 — a majority of current members.

House Republican leaders said in a filing Tuesday that the Supreme Court should respect the constitutional separation of powers and leave it to lawmakers to find a solution.

“The parties to this dispute, and Minnesota’s voters, have all the tools they need to resolve it themselves. Judicial interference is unnecessary and unwarranted,” their attorneys wrote.

Schultz said he doesn’t think either side is on particularly strong legal ground. Democrats and Republicans alike have taken actions that have contributed to the impasse, so neither is blameless, he said.

The professor predicted that the high court “more likely than not” will rule that the House lacks a quorum. He said the justices also could — and he thinks should — decide both sides’ hands are dirty and decline to step in.

Schultz said it’s an “open question” whether House Republicans have the power to round up absent Democrats and force a quorum of 68. And Schultz said he’s not sure that Republicans would really want to do that anyway.

But GOP lawmakers kept up the threat Wednesday, passing a nonbinding resolution calling on Walz to direct the State Patrol to help secure the attendance of the absent Democrats.

“We need to get a budget done. We have a lot of problems for the people of Minnesota that we need to get to work on. And so this resolution is to urge the governor to enforce the law,” the No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Harry Niska, of Ramsey, told his colleagues. Since there were no Democrats present, it passed on a unanimous voice vote.

There was no immediate response from the governor's office.

The fear of being hauled in has subsided a bit among Democrats, who argue that their chamber is not legally organized yet and that Republicans therefore don't have the legal authority to order the sergeant-at-arms to round them up.

But House Democrats reaffirmed Tuesday that they're ready to stay away until Republicans agree to go back to the previous power-sharing deal and, crucially, promise not to try to unseat Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke, who won a seat 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 last week.

The top House Democrat, Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, conceded Friday that Minnesota's rules are “rather genteel” and probably don't allow the sergeant-at-arms or state troopers to dragoon lawmakers back to the Capitol after all.

Hortman, who was speaker for the previous six years when Democrats controlled the House, said she's even asked the sergeant-at-arms in the past what they can actually do to round up absent members.

“Like, are you going to go bear hug somebody and bring them on in?" she recalled. "And they’re like, ‘Well, we’ll try their cellphone.’”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz briefs reporters on his budget proposal, on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn., which would require approval from a deeply divided legislature. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz briefs reporters on his budget proposal, on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn., which would require approval from a deeply divided legislature. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The gate to the Minnesota House of Representatives chamber stands locked on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The gate to the Minnesota House of Representatives chamber stands locked on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The Democratic side of the Minnesota House chamber was empty for a second straight day Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn., as Democrats continued their boycott in a power struggle with Republicans. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The Democratic side of the Minnesota House chamber was empty for a second straight day Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn., as Democrats continued their boycott in a power struggle with Republicans. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota House Republican leader Lisa Demuth speaks to reporters on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota House Republican leader Lisa Demuth speaks to reporters on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota House Democratic leaders Melissa Hortman and Jamie Long speak at a news conference on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Minnesota House Democratic leaders Melissa Hortman and Jamie Long speak at a news conference on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, one day before the 2025 legislative session is due to convene. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Roughly half of the Minnesota House seats remain empty as Democrats fail to show up after the legislative session gaveled in on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

Roughly half of the Minnesota House seats remain empty as Democrats fail to show up after the legislative session gaveled in on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to pause its high-profile lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange Binance as the regulator tries to present itself as more crypto-friendly under a new administration.

Binance and the SEC filed a joint motion Monday asking for a 60-day stay in a lawsuit the regulator filed with significant fanfare two years ago under its previous chairman, Gary Gensler.

Monday’s filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the SEC approached Binance asking for the pause. The regulator said the work of a new crypto task force launched by Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda that's supposed to improve ties to the crypto industry “may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case.”

The filing is the first “tangible action in existing enforcement actions that recognizes a change in direction of the agency,” said Carol Goforth, a distinguished professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – a digital marketplace where customers can buy, sell and store different types of crypto -- and the SEC’s lawsuit drew considerable attention when first filed.

Gensler said in a statement at the time that Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, had engaged in an extensive “web of deception” while the SEC’s X account posted a graphic highlighting a key piece of evidence of alleged wrongdoing: a quote from Binance’s chief compliance officer saying to another employee in 2018, “We are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.”

In a separate case, Binance later agreed to pay a roughly $4 billion settlement and Zhao pleaded guilty to a felony related to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform.

A key issue facing the cryptocurrency industry is whether certain digital assets should be regulated as securities – a position that the SEC under Gensler supported while many in the crypto industry are opposed.

Cryptocurrencies are a kind of electronic cash that have moved from the financial fringes to the mainstream in rapid fits and starts, despite being marred by scandals and market meltdowns.

The SEC has targeted crypto exchanges like Binance, Coinbase and others for allegedly operating unregistered securities exchanges. That scrutiny came after the high-profile meltdown of FTX, the exchange founded by disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried.

The industry said it was unfairly treated by the Biden administration, and Gensler in particular, and spent heavily to help Trump and Republicans in the last election. Trump and GOP lawmakers have signaled their eagerness to help the crypto industry with friendly legislation and light-touch regulations.

Uyeda launched the new crypto task force last month, saying the agency needed a reset in its approach to crypto.

“To date, the SEC has relied primarily on enforcement actions to regulate crypto retroactively and reactively, often adopting novel and untested legal interpretations along the way,” the agency said in announcing the task force. “Clarity regarding who must register, and practical solutions for those seeking to register, have been elusive.”

Legal experts said the pause in the Binance case could indicate similar changes in the SEC’s ongoing legal action against other crypto exchanges.

“I would expect that all of these cases will be either dismissed outright or settled on very favorable terms to the defendants,” said James Murphy, a securities law expert.

That's bad news, said Corey Frayer, a former SEC official who recently left the agency.

“The SEC delaying what appears to be a slam dunk case in Binance while welcoming crypto’s return to its pre-FTX days is a bad omen for any other ongoing crypto litigation,” he said.

In a statement, Binance said the SEC’s case “has always been without merit” and praised Uyeda for “his thoughtful approach to ensuring digital assets receive the appropriate legislative and regulatory focus in this new, golden era of blockchain in the U.S. and around the world.”

FILE - The Binance app icon is seen on a smartphone, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

FILE - The Binance app icon is seen on a smartphone, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

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