PIERRE, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) The South Dakota Supreme Court on Friday reversed a circuit judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by an anti-abortion group seeking to keep an abortion rights amendment from reaching the November ballot.
Next steps: That means Life Defense Fund will have another chance to plead its case in front of Circuit Court Judge John Pekas in Minnehaha County. The group contends that Amendment G’s sponsor, Dakotans for Health, violated state laws with improper petition circulation and that the amendment shouldn’t have been certified. Leslee Unruh, co-chair of Life Defense Fund, said in a statement, “Dakotans for Health illegally gathered signatures to get Amendment G on the ballot, therefore this measure should not be up for a vote this November.”
The ruling: Pekas had questioned why the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office wasn’t named as a party in the lawsuit. The Supreme Court ruled Friday that was a mistake on the judge’s part. “This Court…concluded that the circuit court erred in dismissing the matter based on its determination that (Life Defense Fund) should have brought the case as a quo warranto action to challenge the Secretary of State’s authority,” the Supreme Court’s order of reversal read. Such an action requires someone to show they have the authority to do something.
No new judge: At the same time, the Supreme Court denied Life Defense Fund’s request for a different circuit judge and also rejected a request to expedite the matter in circuit court, noting that “this exceptional level of supervision over a circuit court’s calendar is not supported by the current state of the record.”
What’s at stake: If passed by voters, Amendment G would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Jim Leach, the Rapid City lawyer representing Dakotans for Health, said that the organization “will continue to fight for the right of South Dakota citizens to vote on the Roe v. Wade initiative – and we will continue to oppose those who are trying to stop them from voting.”