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Politics Friday
Brian Bakst, Matt Alvarez and Ellie Roth
Updated:

Politics Friday: As state high court pulled into Minnesota House dispute, what’s on the line?

People read oral arguments
The Minnesota Supreme Court hears oral arguments in two cases challenging the legitimacy of sessions involving only House Republicans, who have taken chamber control as Democrats hold out, at the Minnesota Judicial Center in St. Paul on Thursday.
Ben Hovland | MPR News

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The Legislature opened its session on Jan. 14. But the House hasn’t been able to operate at full capacity.  

Democrats are boycotting and Republicans have declined to cut a deal to share power or commit to leaving a DFL win in a contested House election intact.

Now the Minnesota Supreme Court is involved. 

Will a ruling by justices settle things or could the standoff linger deeper into the session? 

MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst talked to the two Minnesota lawmakers with a role in the power struggle.

Two men stand for a photo
Rep. Jamie Long DFL-Minneapolis (left) and Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey (right) pose for a photo inside the Kling Public Media Center in St. Paul on Friday.
Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News

Later, he spoke with two legal scholars about how the constitutional tug-of-war is playing out. 

three men sit for a photo in a studio
MPR News host Brian Bakst (left) talks with Devin Driscoll (right), a professor teaching constitutional law at the University of Minnesota while also practicing law at a Minneapolis firm and David Schultz (center), a political science and legal studies professor at Hamline University, in an MPR News studio on Friday.
Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News

Guests:  

  • Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey

  • Rep. Jamie Long DFL-Minneapolis

  • Hamline University professor of political science and legal studies David Schultz 

  • University of Minnesota constitutional law instructor Devin Driscoll  

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.   

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.