Faegre Drinker and ACLU Secure Voting Rights Victory in Minnesota Supreme Court

On August 7, 2024, a pro bono Faegre Drinker team, in partnership with the Minnesota chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and its national Voting Rights Project, secured a victory in the Minnesota Supreme Court. The case concerned Minnesota’s 2023 “Restore the Vote” legislation, in which the legislature passed a law allowing those with felony convictions to register to vote once their terms of incarceration have been completed, even if they are still on parole, probation or supervised release.  

In March 2023, Governor Walz signed the Restore the Vote legislation into law. That legislation restores the right to vote for any person who would otherwise be ineligible to vote because of a felony conviction “during any period when the individual is not incarcerated for the offense.” The law was passed to allow tens of thousands of Minnesotans who live in the community on parole or probation of supervised release to vote along with their fellow community members. 

A special interest group and several of its members sued, alleging that the new law was unconstitutional. But their only argument for having standing to sue was as taxpayers; they did not argue that they were harmed directly by restoring the voting rights of others. The district court dismissed their case for lack of standing, and the Supreme Court affirmed. The end result is that a law re-enfranchising thousands of Minnesotans will be applied in the upcoming election. 

The Faegre Drinker team was led by partners Craig Coleman and Jeff Justman with the support of counsel Evie Snyder, associates Erica Moran, Ehren Fournier and Cassidy Ingram and Legal Administrative Assistant Kristen McGrew.

For more information, read ACLU’s press release.