page_title: Tim Pawlenty
section_title: Minnesota Supreme Court case
hierarchical_section_title: Tim Pawlenty / Governorship / State budget / Minnesota Supreme Court case
caption_attribution_description: Historic Minnesota Supreme Court Chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol
context_page_description: Timothy James Pawlenty is an American businessman and politician. A Republican, he served as 39th Governor of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011. He served in the Minnesota House of Representatives, where he was majority leader for two terms. In 2011, he entered the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and was subsequently a leading contender to be a vice presidential nominee before serving as co-chair of the Mitt Romney campaign.
  Pawlenty was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota and raised in nearby South St. Paul. He graduated from University of Minnesota with a B.A. in political science and a J.D. His early career included stints as a labor law attorney and as the vice president of a software as a service company. After settling in the city of Eagan with his wife, Pawlenty was appointed to the city's Planning Commission and was elected to the Eagan City Council at the age of 28. He won a seat as a state representative in 1992, representing District 38B in suburban Dakota County. He was re-elected four times and was voted majority leader by House Republicans in 1998.
context_section_description: While Pawlenty said he was "confident" in his right to use unallotment, the Minnesota Supreme Court ultimately decided against him, voting 4 to 3 in a decision in May 2010. His budget had been the subject of a lawsuit in Ramsey County District Court, which was decided against him. Judge Kathleen Gearin decided Pawlenty exceeded his constitutional authority in making unilateral spending cuts to a $5.3-million special dietary program that he had unalloted. Attorney David Lillehaug said initially, "This is, I don't think it's understating this to say, this is one of the most important court cases in Minnesota legal history." Pawlenty announced the following day that he would appeal; he filed his brief in February, and arguments were heard on March 15. In May, the Supreme Court affirmed Judge Gearin, deciding that "Because the legislative and executive branches never enacted a balanced budget for the 2010–2011 biennium, use of the unallotment power to address the unresolved deficit exceeded the authority granted to the executive branch by the statute". Pawlenty responded:
  I will fight to reduce spending and taxes in Minnesota and that battle continues. My commitment to the people of Minnesota remains the same: we will balance the budget without raising taxes.
  After the court ruling, as the 2010 legislative session drew to a close, Pawlenty vetoed a budget which would fix a $2.9-billion deficit by adding a new tax bracket for six-figure incomes. In response to the proposal, he criticized Democrats for attempting to raise taxes in the midst of an extremely difficult economic situation. Eventually, due in part to the efforts of House Speaker Margaret Kelliher, who was running for the 2010 Democratic nomination for governor of Minnesota, the General Assembly passed legislation approving nearly all the original unallotments.
caption: Minnesota Supreme Court chamber at the Minnesota State Capitol
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