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State Representative Ryan Winkler
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-7026
For more information contact: Ted Modrich 651-296-5809
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Statement on Minnesota Supreme Court Decision
(ST. PAUL) — Today, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the legislative titles for the two proposed constitutional amendments must be the titles on the ballot.
State Representative Ryan Winkler (DFL – Golden Valley) released the following statement:
“Today’s decision may be a victory for Republicans, but it is a defeat for judicial restraint.
“This Supreme Court, and in particular this Chief Justice, has asserted its adherence to interpreting the plain meaning of statues. Yet in this case, the Court's interpretation of the statute required it to invent new words and new meanings found nowhere in the law books. The four-judge majority first concludes that the legislature has constitutional authority to set ballot question titles, but then pretends to avoid making a constitutional decision by inventing its own definition of the word 'appropriate.' This Supreme Court's pious homilies about judicial restraint and plain-meaning interpretations are revealed to be just pretentious.
“Further, based on the reasoning of this decision, the legislature could interfere in any election law statute related to ballot questions without limitation. By the Supreme Court’s logic, the legislature could say ballot questions need to be on a separate ballot, or at the top of a ballot, or in red ink, or require the voters to write ‘yes’ or ‘no’ instead of filling in circles. In the future, the legislature could use the court's decision to interfere with election statutes for ballot questions in any way it chooses.
“The Supreme Court is right to defer to the legislature, but it is wrong to ignore its own precedent or to dispense with independent thought. Deferring to the legislature is not the same as doing whatever the Republicans want.”
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- House passes minimum wage increase to raise wages of over 350,000 Minnesotans - (Posted: May 3 2013 4:30PM)
- Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs reviews 30 years of Pay Equity Act and current gender, income and work issues in Minnesota - (Posted: Apr 16 2013 1:56PM)
- Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs to review 30 years of Pay Equity Act and address current gender, income and work issues - (Posted: Apr 15 2013 11:40AM)
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