Court Rules That Minneapolis Residents Have Right to Sue the Leftwing City Council Over Harms Suffered Due to Defunded Police

Via John Sexton, a judge rules that law-abiding citizens have the right to expect the law to be abided.

The citizens had a useful fact on their side: the city's charter apparently spells out the number of cops (or at least a minimum number) the city will employ.

Minneapolis defunded the police well below that number.

Minneapolis residents have standing to sue the city over an alleged police staffing violation, Hennepin County District Court Judge Jamie Anderson has ruled.

Anderson’s order rejected the city of Minneapolis' attempt to throw out the lawsuit because the city said residents lacked standing to sue.

Anderson said he didn’t have enough information yet to decide on the outcome sought by plaintiffs.

Still, Anderson cited McKee v. Likins, in which the Minnesota Supreme Court held that "[t]axpayers are legitimately concerned with the performance by public officers of their public duties. Accordingly ... a taxpayer suing as a taxpayer has standing to challenge administrative action which allegedly is rulemaking adopted without compliance with the statutory notice requirements."

Eight Minneapolis residents sued the City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey in August, arguing they violated the charter requirement to staff roughly 743 officers for the 425,000-person city.

The lawsuit argues that the number of licensed police officers has dropped from 825 at the start of 2020 to about 634.

I wonder if there's any provision for recalling city council members.

I've learned a big lesson about how important all elected offices are. Not just the federal ones or the biggest ones. These scumbags cannot be permitted to hold an ounce of power, anywhere.

posted by Ace at 12:39 PM

| Access Comments