County Attorney Seeks to Intervene as Minnesota AG Ellison Refuses to Appeal Abortion Ruling
August 10, 2022 | Minnesota
A Minnesota county attorney is stepping in following Attorney General Keith Ellison’s refusal to appeal a court ruling that dispenses with several abortion restrictions.
On Thursday, Traverse County Attorney Matthew Franzese filed an intervening motion in Ramsey County District Court, almost four weeks after Judge Thomas Gilligan tossed out numerous longstanding abortion restrictions as “unconstitutional.”
Attorney Erick Kaardal of the Thomas More Society, the group filing the intervening motion on behalf of Franzese, said Ellison is shirking his legal duty to defend the laws of Minnesota, which includes upholding any abortion restrictions on the books.
“Ellison, a known supporter of abortion, has allowed an abortionist, and another abortion worker — both of whom have concealed their identity — along with an abortion advocacy group and transgender proponents, to attempt to strip away Minnesota’s protective oversight and eliminate any regulation of abortion,” Kaardal said in a statement. “This is something that the Minnesota constitution prohibits them from doing. And Ellison has chosen to allow them to do this without mounting a reasonable defense.”
The case, Doe v. Minnesota, had been in the court system for three years before Judge Gilligan’s ruling. Gilligan ended up overturning at least five abortion restrictions and upholding one.
Kaardal continued by arguing that the state of Minnesota cannot be sued to overturn an existing law unless one of the plaintiffs has been “charged with violating it.” (Excerpt from The Minnesota Sun)