B: MN Court Rules on Who Can Join Defense in Case Against Photo ID Lawsuit

This is from Thursday:

The Minnesota Legislature will spend $18,000 on an outside attorney to defend its interests in a voter ID lawsuit.

House and Senate members of the Legislative Coordinating Commission adopted a resolution today to formally join the case, which was brought by opponents of a proposed requirement that all Minnesotans show photo identification in order to vote.

And this is from Friday.

An order issued today allows the Minnesota House and Minnesota Senate to intervene in the lawsuit filed by amendment opponents to try to remove the question from the statewide ballot...

The order denies intervention motions from state Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, and Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, who were the chief authors of the photo ID constitutional amendment bill.

I wrote previously about attempts by legislative proponents of the amendment, and their allies, to butt in;  the above defines what is and isn't permitted.  The legislature, as a body, can be directly involved;  individual members, and their allies like Minnesota Majority, can't.  In other words, vote suppression forces didn't get all they wanted, with these rulings, but they did get something.

Presumably, that $18,000 is part of the taxpayers' cost of promoting laws making it harder for many of them to exercise a basic, constitutionally-guaranteed civil right.  Legislative Republicans could, of course, display some class and dignity for a change, by dropping all of this.  That a suggestion like that would never even occur to them, is very telling.  Three words, via Mark Dayton:  "Unfit to govern."