Hatch handled many constitutional cases as attorney general. In 2001, Minnesota state government nearly shut down when Governor Jesse Ventura and legislative leaders reached an impasse in budget negotiations. Hatch filed a petition to ask a court to order that essential state government services be funded in the event of a shutdown. The court granted Hatch's request, the first time that a Minnesota court had issued an order to authorize the government to continue to operate in the absence of a legislative appropriation. Hatch obtained a similar court order in 2005 requiring the state to continue to fund essential government services during a partial government shutdown that year.