ACLU: Jesse Ventura Trying to Limit Ruling That Struck Down Sodomy Law
The Advocate,
June 6, 2001
The American Civil Liberties Union is claiming that Minnesota governor
Jesse Ventura is trying to limit the impact of a judge’s decision to
overturn the state’s sodomy law as unconstitutional. Judge Deila F Pierce
struck down Minnesota’s sodomy law last month, but now lawyers for the
Ventura administration are arguing that the ruling should apply only to the
seven people who sued rather than to the general population of the state.
Lawyers for the Ventura administration plan to be in court Thursday to oppose
ACLU efforts to get the lawsuit that overturned the sodomy law certified as a
class-action suit, ACLU officials said. That formality would make certain that
the ruling against the sodomy law would apply to all Minnesota residents.
"The sodomy law has been declared unconstitutional, and the state has no
good reason to say it should be unconstitutional for some people but not
everyone," said Matt Coles, director of the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights
Project. "It’s a wake-up call that the government of Minnesota is
actually asking a court to say the law is unconstitutional for six or seven
people, but nobody else." Ventura was a named defendant in the case
because the plaintiffs sued him and the attorney general as part of their
lawsuit against the state of Minnesota. Ventura agreed with the judge’s
ruling about the sodomy law when it was announced last month. "The judge’s
action is consistent with the governor’s principle that there are certain
things the government should not have a role in," Ventura spokesman John
Wodele told the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. But days later the Ventura
administration filed legal papers seeking to limit the ruling’s impact. In
the papers the state argues that instead of certifying the case as a class
action, the court should force the ACLU to amend the initial lawsuit to name
all local law enforcement entities in the state as defendants. The ACLU is
asking for the class-action certification to leave "absolutely no
question" that all Minnesota residents are covered by Judge Pierce’s
order. Ventura’s office did not return a phone call seeking comment.
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