A federal appeals court has blocked Minnesota from enforcing part of its election-speech law against a conservative advocacy group, ruling the state cannot criminalize the group's disputed claims about who is allowed to vote.

In a decision issued Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit sided with the Minnesota Voters Alliance, reversing a lower court and granting the group a preliminary injunction against Minnesota Statute 609.281, a law signed by Gov. Tim Walz in 2023 that allows criminal charges and civil suits over statements deemed “materially false” about voting rights within 60 days of an election.

What the court found

The Alliance sued after arguing the law would let the state prosecute it simply for asserting that felons still under supervision cannot vote under the Minnesota Constitution — a claim the state disputes. Writing for the panel, Judge David Stras found the statute reaches core political speech even when that speech turns out to be false.

"The government cannot endorse one view and criminalize the other without implicating the First Amendment."

The panel — Stras and Judge Jonathan Kobes, both Trump appointees, joined by Bush appointee Judge Raymond Gruender — held the law failed strict scrutiny because it is both over- and under-inclusive, lacks the procedural safeguards required for prior restraints, and ignores a less restrictive option: government counter-speech. The law's 60-day enforcement window for the 2026 general election opens Sept. 4, meaning the injunction shields the Alliance for the entire pre-election period, according to Reason's Volokh Conspiracy.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office had argued the disputed statements cause direct harm by discouraging eligible voters from casting ballots. The court rejected that argument as insufficient to override First Amendment protections.

Reaction and what's next

The ruling applies specifically to the Minnesota Voters Alliance as a named plaintiff, not to the statute generally — meaning other groups making similar claims remain technically exposed to prosecution unless they too sue, a distinction Raw Story flagged as leaving "no one else" covered. Conservative attorney Gabriel Malor noted the decision effectively lets the Alliance repeat its felon-voting claims through Minnesota's Nov. 3 general election, which features an open U.S. Senate seat, eight U.S. House races and control of the state legislature on the ballot.

The Minnesota Voters Alliance is represented by the Liberty Justice Center, which has litigated the group's election-speech disputes with the state for years. Ellison's office has not indicated whether it will seek further review from the full Eighth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court. The underlying case now returns to the district court, which the appeals panel instructed to issue the injunction while litigation over the law's broader constitutionality continues.