The Minnesota Supreme Court is hearing arguments Monday regarding the restoration of voting rights to convicted felons in the state upon their release from prison.

Last year, Minnesota passed a law restoring the right to vote to 55,000 Minnesotans on probation, supervision, and work release. Probation had to be completed in order to have one’s voting rights restored. 

Anoka County Judge Thomas Lehmann ruled against a lawsuit from the Minnesota Voters Alliance, which said the suit lacked proof that the state’s legislature overstepped when it authorized expanding voting rights to felons. The alliance argued that felons could not vote “unless restored to civil rights,” meaning that felons would need to receive all of their civil rights back, not just some. 

“[The law] conflicts with the Minnesota Constitution, which limits voting rights to those who have been convicted of felony crimes and who have not yet been restored to civil rights because it only attempts to restore the civil right to vote,” said James Dickey, an attorney working on behalf of the Minnesota Voters Alliance.

Lehmann did not agree with that claim.

“The major premise of this argument is fundamentally flawed,” the judge wrote, citing a 2023 Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that gave the legislature the power to decide whether voting rights should be restored. 

The alliance appealed the lower court’s decision, and the appeal will be heard in the state’s Supreme Court on Monday. 

Proponents of the legislation say disenfranchising felons disproportionately harms people of color due to bias in the criminal justice system. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he wants this issue to be cleared up quickly. 

“We’ve got [an] election coming up in November, and there will be other primary elections coming up before that,” Ellison said. “And people need to know: Can I vote or can I not?”

Ellison said he believes the court will rule in favor of Minnesota lawmakers. 

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“The justices have said that the legislature is fully empowered to set voting qualifications. They can set qualifications or they can change them,” Ellison said. “And they have, and the legislature is well within its rights to restore people to vote when they get out of confinement.”

If the law stands, Minnesota would join 22 other states that have similar measures allowing felons to regain their voting rights after incarceration.