The Minnesota Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on a challenge to a new state law that restored voting rights to convicted felons.
Those bringing the suit say the law violates a clause in the state constitution.
Advocates for felon voting rights say there's a lot at stake. Tierre Caldwell is with the group "Restore the Vote" and spoke with WCCO-TV.
"It's really disheartening that there's to know that there's people out there in special interests that are fighting so hard to take away the civil rights of so many people who have been already disenfranchised for years," says Caldwell.
The law passed last year allows 55,000 convicted felons who were released from prison the right to vote.
It was last year when the governor signed into law a bill restoring the right to vote to felons who were released from custody and still on probation.
An Anoka County judge dismissed the challenge, with the group appealing the case to the State Supreme Court. In a similar case, a Mille Lacs County judge ruled the law was unconstitutional, but the State Court of Appeals said that judge didn't have the authority to make the ruling.