The justices agreed with a lower court that the Minnesota Voters Alliance lacked standing to challenge the law.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Supreme Court has turned away a challenge to a new state law that restores voting rights to convicted felons who have completed incarceration.
“Taxpayer standing exists only when the central dispute involves alleged unlawful disbursements of public funds; when standing would not otherwise exist to challenge a substantive law, a taxpayer cannot manufacture standing by pointing to expenditures that are incidental to implementing the law,” the ruling’s syllabus reads.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison lauded the unanimous Supreme Court decision, saying legislation to restore the voting rights of felons who have served their sentences is something he introduced as a state legislator 20 years ago.
“Democracy is not guaranteed – it is earned by protecting and expanding it,” Ellison said in a released statement. “Today, the …