Supreme Court Rules on Constitutional Amendment Questions

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that two constitutional amendments will remain on the November ballot with the original titles passed by the Legislature.
(Published Aug 27, 2012)

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled on Aug. 27 that two constitutional amendments will remain on the November ballot with the original titles passed by the Legislature.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie attempted to change the Legislature’s titles for the marriage amendment and the photo ID amendment, arguing that Minnesota law grants the attorney general authority to supply the titles that appear on the ballot. Legislators sued to keep the original titles.

In a separate suit, the Minnesota League of Women Voters and several nonprofits unsuccessfully tried to have the voter ID question removed from the ballot, arguing that the ballot language was misleading.

The Supreme Court found that the ballot question on the proposed constitutional amendment implementing a photographic identification requirement for Minnesota voters “is not so unreasonable and misleading as to be a palpable evasion of the constitutional requirement in Minn. Const. art. IX, ยง 1, that constitutional amendments shall be submitted to a popular vote.”

View the League of Women Voters decision (pdf)

View the decision on the challenge of Secretary of State’s title changes (pdf)