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SF 3542

as introduced - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026) Posted on 05/20/2025 09:19am

KEY: stricken = removed, old language.
underscored = added, new language.

Current Version - as introduced

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A resolution
memorializing Congress to exercise its power and assert its authority in order to support
and defend the Constitution of the United States.

WHEREAS, the federal government is divided into three distinct and coequal branches of
government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Those branches are designed to distribute
governing powers and authorities equally in order to limit the application of power of the other
branches and prevent expansion of power of any branch; and

WHEREAS, the ability of any democracy to survive and flourish relies on respect for the
Rule of Law by its citizens and its government, a concept that is enshrined numerous times in the
nation's Founding Documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of
Rights; and

WHEREAS, James Madison, the architect of the United States Constitution, wrote that "the
accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands [...] may justly
be pronounced the very definition of tyranny"; and

WHEREAS, since January 20, 2025, the Executive branch has usurped and exercised powers
specifically delegated to the Legislative and Judicial branches, and has circumvented and disregarded
the Rule of Law, including:

(1) depriving lawful residents of due process in incarceration and deportation hearings and
threatening to extend such unlawful detentions and deportations to American citizens;

(2) challenging the authority of the judiciary and its rulings in a succession of cases, including
calling for the removal of judges who rule against the Executive branch; arresting a member of the
state judiciary; and arbitrarily threatening the impeachment of judges who check Executive branch
power, prompting Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts to respond "For more than two
centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement
concerning a judicial decision"; and

(3) impounding funds duly appropriated by the legislature for expenditures, such as emergency
disaster relief, critical medical research funding, including research into childhood cancer and
Alzheimer's Disease; the Office of Violence Against Women; and the Head Start program; and

WHEREAS, the Executive branch is failing to protect and defend the First Amendment to
the United States Constitution, and instead is infringing on academic freedom by coercing and
defunding universities, punishing law firms and lawyers for the cases they take and the clients they
represent, weaponizing nonprofit status of disfavored organizations, pursuing baseless investigations
into political fundraising platforms that oppose the President, using the Department of Justice to
pressure journalists, and detaining and revoking the lawful status of residents for protected political
speech; and

WHEREAS, the Executive branch has compromised national security by circumventing
background checks for Department of Governmental Efficiency appointees and other favored
advisors, failing to hold Cabinet secretaries accountable for gross breaches of security resulting in
unauthorized release of Americans' private data, allowing foreign incursions into our supposedly
secure federal data system, and exposing sensitive military data to our nation's enemies; and

WHEREAS, members of the United States Congress swore an oath of office to support and
defend the Constitution of the United States and faithfully discharge the duties of their office; NOW,
THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the legislature of the State of Minnesota that it strongly urges the
Congress of the United States to exercise its constitutional powers to investigate and oversee the
Executive branch and to assert its constitutional oversight authority to the fullest extent of its
authority to protect the rights and freedoms guaranteed to the people under the Constitution of the
United States.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed
to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the
President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Chair and ranking member of the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the United States House of Representatives,
the Chair and ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives,
and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.

Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Centennial Office Building, 3rd Floor, 658 Cedar Street, St. Paul, MN 55155