Politics & Government

LIVE VIDEO: MN Supreme Court Considers Voter Photo ID, Gay Marriage Amendments

Starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, justices hear arguments on the titles of Minnesota ballot amendments on voting requirements and same-sex marriage.

Watch live here, starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, as the Minnesota Supreme Court hears oral arguments on competing versions of the titles of the two proposed constitutional amendments set to appear on the ballot in November.

Here are the titles for the two amendments, in versions proposed by the state Legislature and composed by Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

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Marriage amendment:

  • Legislature: "Recognition of Marriage Solely Between One Man and One Woman."
  • Secretary of State: "Limiting the Status of Marriage to Opposite Sex Couples."

Voter Photo ID:

Find out what's happening in Burnsvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Legislature: "Photo Identification Required for Voting."
  • Secretary of State: "Changes to In-person & Absentee Voting & Voter Registration; Provisional Ballots."

Chief Justice Lorie Gildea consolidated two separate cases filed by Republican legislators against Ritchie, a DFLer, for the purposes of Tuesday's hearing.

She denied a petition Friday from lawyers for the Republican-led Legislature for more time to make their oral arguments, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

"Titles are important because they give people a mind-set about what is in the amendment," University of Minnesota Law School constitutional law professor Fred Morrison told the Star Tribune. Morrison filed a brief in support of Ritchie's position, along with other law professors.

Click on the PDF thumbnails above to read briefs filed in the two cases online:

For other documents filed in the two cases click on the case names above.

Livestream video comes by way of The UpTake.


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