ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is intervening after a Mille Lacs County judge ruled the state's new felon voting law is unconstitutional.
The law, which passed in the last session and took effect in July, allows convicted felons to vote once they've completed incarceration, even if they're still serving probation.
However, the Attorney General's office said in at least six recent cases, Mille Lacs County District Court Judge Matthew M. Quinn sentenced people convicted of felonies to probation and declared that they are not allowed to vote because Minnesota's "Restore the Vote" law is unconstitutional.
In his orders, Judge Quinn concluded the Legislature’s passage of the law did not constitute the kind of “affirmative act” he said was needed to properly restore a felon’s civil rights. So he said he now has a duty going forward to “independently evaluate the voting capacity” of felons when they complete probation.
Two of the individuals have filed for "writs of prohibition" at the Minnesota Court of Appeals, claiming the judge exceeded his authority. Ellison's office is supporting the writs.
"Judge Quinn ... in the context simply of sentencing people convicted of felonies, ruled the law unconstitutional without prompting, without the question having been raised by either party, and with no notice to the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, or other appropriate authorities," Ellison's office said in a news release. "But a sentencing court has no discretion whatsoever over voting rights: only the Legislature decides when the right to vote may be restored, and the court plays no role. Voting rights are not up for debate in a criminal sentencing."
“Judicial restraint and respect for the separation of powers are essential principles of our justice system. When either of those principles is violated, Minnesotans lose trust in the system — and Judge Quinn has violated both principles,” Attorney General Ellison said in a statement. “I support a writ of prohibition as the best option for quickly keeping Judge Quinn from further violating our justice system and Minnesotans’ trust.”
“We cannot allow for any distortion of the rules for voter eligibility in Minnesota. Local elections in communities across Minnesota will take place in just 18 days — on November 7. And voting in Minnesota’s 2024 presidential nominating primary starts just 13 weeks from today — on January 19,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement. “Minnesota has a proud tradition of showing up at the polls in nation-leading numbers, and I know that will continue.”
Judge Quinn, who was appointed by former Democratic Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton in 2017, was publicly reprimanded by the ethics board in 2021 for expressing support for Trump on social media and participating in a “Trump Boat Parade” on the Mississippi River while wearing a Make America Great Again hat and flying Trump flags from his boat. The county court administration office referred news media calls seeking comment from Quinn to the Minnesota Judicial Branch, which said he can't answer questions and, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on his actions.
Separate lawsuits have been filed specifically challenging the constitutionality of the Restore the Vote law.
The conservative law firm, Upper Midwest Law Center, requested to file an amicus or "friend of the court" brief to the MN Court of Appeals on Friday to support Quinn's order.
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