The DFL state senator who was arrested and charged last week with burglarizing her stepmother’s home has now been removed from her Senate committee assignments and caucus meetings.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL- St. Paul) announced the decision Sunday morning, saying Sen. Nicole Mitchell “will be relieved of her committee assignments and removed from caucus meetings” amid her legal proceedings.

Murphy added that many questions surrounding Mitchell’s case still need to be answered but, while her case plays out in the courts and in a Senate ethics subcomittee, Mitchell won’t have her normal duties at the Capitol.

While her case goes through the court, Sen. Nicole Mitchell will not be allowed to participate in any caucus or committee meetings, but she can still debate from the Senate floor and cast votes, explained Carleton College Professor of Political Science Emeritus Steve Schier.

“This is all about a single-vote majority in the state Senate,” he reacted to the announcement.

“What [the DFL is] trying to do is to give themselves some distance from Sen. Mitchell and her problems by removing her from committees and from the caucus, taking what they would see as a moral high ground in this but keeping her vital floor vote,” Schier continued. 

“So, in some ways, politicians like to have it both ways. This is an example of it.”

The rare ethical dilemma is unfolding as a number of public safety bills and other key legislation hang in the balance in the final weeks of the 2024 legislative session.

“Well, I think the DFL Caucus is taking this very seriously,” Schier said, noting a four-hour weekend meeting that he said preceded the decision.

“The question is, how does Senator Mitchell function under these limitations?” he continued. “She’s not really up to speed on what the caucus is exactly doing. She may hear from party leaders about it. Her committee work has essentially ended. And she will be the subject of a lot of media scrutiny over the next few weeks as legal proceedings begin, so it’s a unique and, I’m sure, a very uncomfortable position for the senator.”

​David Schultz, a constitutional law expert from Hamline University, provided the following statement:

​”It appears that pressure on Senator Mitchell to step down and her position is increasingly untenable. The DFL is under pressure to act, but it is trying to do that while keeping its majority to move its agenda. The question is whether the DFL can strike this balance long enough. Right now, it looks less likely every day. Mitchell’s vote is critical but she is also a distraction.”

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson released the following statement on Sunday:

“Removing Sen. Mitchell from Senate Committees is not enough. As caucus leaders, we are responsible to hold our members accountable for their actions. Instead, this half-hearted punishment is a partisan effort to protect a political agenda and allow Sen. Mitchell to be the deciding vote on the Senate floor. Senate Republicans are committed to getting the business done at the Senate – as we demonstrated last week. But we will not tarnish the Senate’s reputation by voting alongside someone facing felony charges and without a final decision by the Ethics Subcommittee.”

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson

Mitchell has said she has no plans to resign and shared her own narrative of the incident that doesn’t match the police and charging documents’ accounts.

As mentioned, Senate Republicans have filed an ethics complaint against Mitchell, and while she remains part of the Senate, her colleagues could decide on punishments ranging up to expulsion.

Ken Martin, the chairman of the DFL Party, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the allegations against Mitchell are “disturbing” and would make him consider resigning if he were in Mitchell’s place, although he stopped short of calling for her to resign.

While Mitchell is out on conditional bail and isn’t scheduled to appear in court again until June 10, she hasn’t yet returned to the Capitol since her arrest on Monday.