Court Opinion

ID: 9704094
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:21:44.100698+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:56.359142
License: Public Domain

*239Peterson, Justice
(dissenting).
The trial court, upon application of a subordinate agency of government,1 has enjoined the parent municipality and its electorate from voting upon a proposed charter amendment which, if adopted, would not be wholly invalid. No authority cited in the majority opinion supports, much less compels, this extraordinary judicial intervention. I would remand to the trial court with directions to dissolve the injunction.
The proposed charter amendment has been duly initiated by petition of more than 15,000 citizens and, if adopted, would without doubt be at least partially effective. The validity of provision 23(a) of the proposed charter amendment is unchallenged. This provision is not useless as a matter of law. It effectively implements a state statute, and we should not indulge the assumption that the electorate would reject the proposed amendment if that were the only valid provision.
Provisions 23(b) and 23(c) of the proposed amendment, to be sure, are vulnerable to constitutional challenge by persons having standing to assert the challenge. The constitutional infirmity of 23(b), however, is only that it conflicts with governing statute to the extent that it would permit a referendum on council “actions” other than ordinances, a defect which may be corrected by judicial construction limiting its application to ordinances. A more fundamental objection may well exist as to the voting limitations stated in 23(c), but I would not at this time or on this record accord plaintiffs standing to assert the objection.

 Housing and Redevelopment Authority of Minneapolis (HRA) is the principal plaintiff. Charles L. Horn and Leonard W. Anderson, who are chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of HRA, are additional plaintiffs in the posture of taxpayers.