Johnson story not going away; move made to bring marriage amendment to Senate floor
The chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Russell Anderson, had a conference call with reporters today to say, apparently, that there were no conversations between any Supreme Court justices and Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson on the subject of the state's marriage
"We have talked amongst ourselves and our former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz and there was no conversation about the Defense of Marriage Act. It never happened," he said.
Anderson also talked about the changing landscape of campaigning to be a judge in states like Minnesota, which elect their judges.
It was a fascinating conference call, the bulk of which you're probably not going to hear in many places because the technical quality was horrific. But, hey, what do I know about technical quality? So here it is in all of its RealPlayer feedback glory. Enjoy!
1:50 p.m. The Senate has just started debate to try to get the marriage bill out of committee. So far the Senate president has ruled the request out of order. A debate rages at the moment.
2:03 p.m. Sen. Jim Metzen under heavy fire from Republicans for ruling the request was not a recall of the bill from committee.
2:05 p.m. Vote is 34-31 to uphold the ruling of the chair, keeping the bill bottled up in committee.
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