Jason Ravnsborg

Jason Richard Ravnsborg (born April 12, 1976) is an American attorney, combat veteran, and politician from the state of South Dakota. In 2018, he was elected Attorney General of South Dakota.

Ravnsborg was born in Cherokee, Iowa and graduated from Cherokee Washington High School and the University of South Dakota with a Bachelor of Science in history and political science.

While in college, he participated in the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corpsprogram and received a commission as an Army transportation officer. Later, Ravnsborg attended the University of South Dakota School of Law, graduating with his Juris Doctor in 2001, as well as a master of arts in history from the University of South Dakota.

Ravnsborg has had four company commands during his military career.He also deployed on three different occasions.He was deployed to Germany in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003, to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004, and to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2009. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal after coming under enemy fire in Iraq. He has also been awarded other medals. In 2006, he was honored before Congress for his service.

He is currently a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve.He was a Battalion Commander of the 394th Combat Service Support Battalion commanding over 600 Soldiers in the four states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri.

He is licensed to practice law in the states of South Dakota and Iowa as well as the federal district courts for South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Court of Claims and the United States Supreme Court.

Ravnsborg clerked from 2001 to 2004.In 2004, he joined the law firm of Harmelink and Fox in Yankton, South Dakota. In 2006, he became a partner at the law firm Harmelink, Fox & Ravnsborg in Yankton, South Dakota. He remained at this position until his election as Attorney General of South Dakota.He also served as deputy state's attorney for Union County.

2014 United States Senate election

Ravnsborg ran for the United States Senate in the 2014 election. He lost in the primary election to Mike Rounds.

2018 South Dakota Attorney General election

In the 2018 election, Ravnsborg ran for Attorney General of South Dakota.He officially began his campaign on February 21, 2017, at the Hughes County Lincoln Day Dinner.During the campaign, he drove approximately 140,000 miles visiting each of South Dakota's 66 counties at least twice learning about issues that were important to law enforcement, state's attorneys and citizens. He then built his platform for the campaign from these issues and by proposing solutions to the issues mentioned around the state. He maintained his law practice at the law firm of Harmelink Fox and Ravnsborg in Yankton, South Dakota and continued being a Deputy States Attorney in Union County. He became the Battalion Commander of the 394th Combat Service Support Battalion based in Fremont, Nebraska where he oversaw 600 Soldiers in the four states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Missouri.

On March 13, 2017, Chief Deputy Attorney General Charlie McGuigan was the second person to enter the race. On March 16, 2017, Lawrence County State's Attorney John Fitzgerald also entered the race. On September 20, 2017, State Senator Lance Russell announced his run for Attorney General. On March 16, 2018, McGuigan suspended his campaign prior to the nominating convention.

On June 23, 2018, Ravnsborg won his party's nomination at the Republican Convention in Pierre, South Dakota, by defeating Fitzgerald and Russell.

In the first round of Convention voting, Ravnsborg lead with 47% of the vote; Russell had 27%. Fitzgerald had 26% which eliminated him. Ravnsborg then defeated Russell of by a margin of 63% to 37% in the second vote.

The Democratic party nominated former U.S. Attorney Randy Seiler, for the general election after he defeated Tatewin Means, daughter of the late actor, writer, Libertarian Party politician and American Indian Movement leader Russell Means.

Ravnsborg was endorsed in the general election by forty county sheriffs, the Fraternal Order of Police, thirty state's attorneys, the National Rifle Association, South Dakota Right to Life, and the Family Heritage Alliance.

Ravnsborg defeated Seiler in the November 6 general election.

Trust case

Ravnsborg filed an amicus brief in support of the Kimberly Rice Kaestner 1992 Trust in the United States Supreme Court in North Carolina Department of Revenue vs. the Kimberly Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust The states of Alaska, Nevada and Texas joined with South Dakota in their amicus brief.On June 21, 2019, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Kimberly Rice Kaestner 1992 Trust, the position of Attorney General Ravnsborg and South Dakota, by a vote of 9–0.

Combatting illegal robocalls

Attorneys General of all 50 states, including Ravnsborg, support SB 151 (2019-2020), the TRACED (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence) sponsored by South Dakota U.S. Senator John Thune and Massachusetts U.S. Senator Ed Markey.On May 23, 2019, the TRACED Act passed the U.S. Senate 97-1On December 4, 2019, the U.S. House passed the TRACED Act by a 417-3 vote. On December 31, 2019, President Donald Trump signed the TRACED Act into law.

On August 22, 2019, Ravnsborg joined his fellow Attorneys General by entering into an agreement with 12 phone companies The agreement detailed 8 specific actions the companies agreed to take to curtail illegal robocalls.

Guns

Ravnsborg stated during the campaign he would fight to uphold the District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago decisions from the United States Supreme Court. He is a National Rifle Association life member. Ravnsborg testified in support of SB 47, a bill to allow carrying of guns without a permit. Governor Kristi Noem would sign the bill into law making South Dakota the 14th state to enact such a law.

Transparency

As Ravnsborg campaigned he found many people did not know what the Attorney General did or what services could be provided.He stated in interviews that he would use social media and other campaign tools to be more transparent and explain to the public what the Attorney General's office does for the state.He developed a weekly YouTube video series that was called "What's New at the Attorney General's office" where each week a new video told what was going on in the office or what a particular person does in and for the office. He then appeared on an episode of the South Dakota Public Broadcasting Television program "South Dakota Focus" with Stephanie Rissler where he took questions from citizens across the state.From that episode he developed another YouTube video series "5 on Fridays with South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg" wherein he sought to address questions from the South Dakota Focus program and other topics around the office or through questions he received.

National Association of Attorneys General

In 2019, Ravnsborg was named to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Standing Committees regarding Consumer Protection; Energy and the Environment and the National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute (NAGTRI) Training Committee. He was also named to the NAAG Special Committees regarding Federalism/Preemption; Gaming; Human Trafficking and Substance Abuse. On August 13, 2019, it was announced Ravnsborg was appointed to the executive council for Special Olympics and Law Enforcement Torch Run(LETR).On January 9, 2020, it was announced that Ravnsborg had been named Co-chair of the NAAG Gaming Committee with Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich.

Death penalty

On February 7, 2019, Ravnsborg testified against SB 71, a bill to provide a severe mental illness exemption to the death penalty. The bill was defeated in committee 4–3, but it smoked out of committee and was defeated by the state senate by a vote of 21−12.

On June 25, 2019, Ravnsborg appeared in the 7th Circuit Court in Rapid City, Pennington County, South Dakota, to request a warrant of execution for Charles Russell Rhines for the 1992 murder of Donnivan Schaeffer. Ravnsborg pointed out that Rhines has been challenging his case 5 years longer than Donnivan was alive.Judge Robert A. Mandel granted the warrant of execution for the week of November 3, 2019 – November 9, 2019 stating there was "no legal reason to postpone it". On October 25, 2019, Ravnsborg announced that the South Dakota Supreme Court had denied Rhines request for a stay of execution and ruled against Rhines with regard to his challenges to the Department of Corrections policies. On October 25, 2019, Ravnsborg announced that a second appeal had been won by the state in the same day in the Rhines' capital punishment case.He announced the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals had dismissed a case regarding Rhines' request for evaluation by mental health providers for a petition of clemency to the governor. On October 31, 2019, Ravnsborg announced that Judge Sogn of the 2nd Judicial Circuit had denied Rhines' request for a stay wherein Rhines sought a stay based on a challenge of the drugs used for the execution. On November 4, 2019, the South Dakota Supreme Court denied Rhines' challenge to the 2nd Circuit decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied three late challenges allowing the execution to go forward. Rhines was pronounced dead at 7:39 pm. After the execution, Ravnsborg addressed the media expressing sympathy for the victim and relief the execution was over.

Rural Broadband Lawsuit

On June 25, 2019, A group of legislators represented by John M. Fitzgerald sought a Writ of Prohibition seeking to stop Governor Noem from spending $5 million for rural broadband providers seeking to improve service.Ravnsborg declined to block the legislators' request instead stating that he had a duty to defend the state.The State Supreme Court denied the writ of prohibition allowing the state to move forward with providing funding for rural broadband.

Google Investigation

On September 9, 2019, Ravnsborg spoke outside the U.S. Supreme Court about the opening of a bipartisan antitrust investigation into Google by 50 state attorneys general.

Investigation of Minnehaha County States Attorney

On September 18, 2019, Governor Kristi Noem requested that Ravnsborg investigate Minnehaha County States Attorney Aaron McGowan after a two-month absence. On October 9, 2019, Governor Noem released Ravnsborg's report which explained that McGowan did not commit a crime, but outlined numerous alcohol-related incidents that Noem described as "unsettling".After the report came out McGowan issued a statement apologizing to his family, colleagues, friends and the public for his behavior.On December 2, 2019, McGowan announced he would be resigning effective December 6, 2019, citing complications with his knee and the on-going media buzz relating back to the report by Attorney General Ravnsborg.

Lawsuit filed to block ERA ratification

On December 16, 2019, the States of Alabama, Louisiana and South Dakota sued to prevent the implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. South Dakota Attorney General Ravnsborg stated “The South Dakota Legislature ratified the ERA in 1973, but in 1979 passed Senate Joint Resolution 2 which required the ERA be ratified in the original time limit set by Congress or be rescinded.Because thirty-eight states failed to ratify the amendment by March 31, 1979 the South Dakota Legislature rescinded its ratification of the ERA,” said Ravnsborg.“It is the duty of the Attorney General to defend and support our Legislature.It would be a disservice to the citizens of South Dakota to ignore this obligation of my office.”“This is an issue of following the rule of law, the rules that our founding fathers put into place to protect us from government making decisions without the consent or support of ‘we the people.’” continuedAttorney General Ravnsborg.“If Congress wants to pass an updated version of the ERA, taking into consideration all the changes in the law since 1972, I have no doubt the South Dakota Legislature would debate the merits in a new ratification process. An amendment to the Constitution should not be done by procedural nuances decades after the deadline prescribed by Congress, but through an open and transparent process where each State knows the ramifications of its actions.”

Missing Persons

Ravnsborg introduced a bill, SB 27, to create a missing person clearinghouse. On January 16, 2020, the Senate Judiciary committee passed SB 27, by a vote of 7–0. On January 24, 2020, the State Senate approved SB 27, by a vote of 33-0.