The suit, filed this week by four GOP senators, asks the Supreme Court to not allow any state money to spent in the event of a government shutdown July 1.

The resolution, similar to one passed by the Senate Rules Committee last week, OKs arguing the Legislature's position that it be allowed to remain operational enough to eventually bring the shutdown to a close.

Four GOP senators have filed a petition in Ramsey County District Court seeking to prohibit the judicial branch from spending state dollars if a government shutdown occurs. The legal brief argues that only the legislative branch has the constitutional authority to appropriate funds.

On Monday, yet another legal petition regarding the terms of a state government shutdown is expected to be filed in Ramsey County District Court, and this one makes a very simple case: In the event of a shutdown, priority funding should go to — no one. Nothing gets funded. Any such arrangement is illegal on its face according to the Minnesota Constitution.

A new lawsuit pertaining to a possible state government shutdown will join a slew of others filed this week, including petitions from Gov. Mark Dayton and Attorney General Lori Swanson, who are attempting to define what agencies and programs would be funded in the event of a shutdown.

Hoffman, a freshman lawmaker from Vergas, drew the ire of DFLers when she posted to her Twitter account that DFL Sen. Barb Goodwin had "just called people with mental illness- idiots and imbeciles- while debating HHS bill."

As acrimony and posturing continue to dominate relations between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders, the countdown to a July 1 state government shutdown proceeds. Yet even as the zero hour draws closer, many basic questions — such as the scope of services to be shuttered and the likely public impact — remain mysteries that would ultimately be settled in a courtroom.

Following Gov. Mark Dayton's veto of the long-sought legislation to require photo identification at the polls, Republican legislators are pushing ahead with a plan to put the question to voters in 2012.

A bi-partisan Senate panel dismissed an ethics complaint against Sen. Scott Newman stemming from an email sent out by his office stating that he would not meet with any individuals or groups that supported his opponent in the November election. Following an occasionally contentious, five-hour hearing on Wednesday, the Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct voted 4-0 that the Hutchinson Republican's behavior did not violate the body's rules.

Senate Democrats are calling for an ethics investigation into the behavior of Sen. Scott Newman. Last week the Republican's legislative assistant sent a letter to the Minnesota Nurses Association stating that he would not meet with the union because it supported his opponent during the fall campaign.