Current Events
Reason-Specific Abortion Bans Under Current Abortion Jurisprudence
March 13, 2023
View/Download PDF Version By Jocelyn Rimes† Introduction In 2021 alone, 108 restrictions on abortion were enacted in just nineteen states.[1] With the recent Supreme Court decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that eliminated the federal constitutional right to obtain an abortion, abortion access is in a perilous position for millions of individuals.[2] Currently, ten…
Continue ReadingThe Suncor Sets on the Fossil Fuel Empire: Why the Fight for Climate Justice Will Take Place in State Courts
October 4, 2024
By: Elizabeth Mansfield, Volume 43 Online Editor View/Download PDF Version: The Suncor Sets on the Fossil Fuel Empire (Mansfield) Introduction In recent years, numerous states have sued big oil companies over their role in causing the climate crisis and the lies they perpetuated to hide it. One of the most notable cases came out of…
Continue ReadingSleep Tight? Not on This Bench: Grants Pass and the Criminalization of Unhoused Individuals
By: Liddy Patterson, Volume 43 Staff Member View/Download PDF Version: Sleep Tight – Not on This Bench – Grants Pass and the Criminalization of Unhoused Individuals (Patterson) Houselessness is a pervasive and heartbreaking crisis across the United States. Life as an unhoused individual is scary, exhausting, and overwhelming. In the winter, many individuals are denied…
Continue ReadingTick-Tock TikTok: Time’s Up on Online Free Speech?
April 16, 2024
By: Anonymous In this day and age where the internet is in wide proliferation, most Americans receive their news from their smartphones, with a large percentage of people receiving their news from social media.[1] The days of opening a newspaper for the daily news are gone, in favor of swipes, reposts, and shares. One of…
Continue ReadingWill Minnesota’s New Automatic Expungement Laws Have an Effect on Federal Sentences?
February 14, 2024
By Britane Hubbard* On January 1, 2025, Minnesota’s new automatic expungement statutes will go into effect.[1] Under this new law, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will identify eligible people and grant them expungement relief if they qualify.[2] Offenses eligible for expungement range from petty misdemeanors to felonies.[3] The possibility of a new wave of expungements…
Continue ReadingHow Texas’s Immigration Power-Grab Harms Migrants, Legal Immigrants, and Communities
March 14, 2024
By: Cassandra Whall* Recently, the news is dominated by discussions of a broken immigration system that has been straining the South, and the South’s belief that taking immigration into its own hands is the only appropriate and effective solution.[1] For months, Florida and Texas have been sending buses and planes filled with migrants to sanctuary…
Continue ReadingTexas Legislature doubles down on supporting oil and gas at the cost of renewable energy post-freeze
February 27, 2024
By: Wills Layton* Background In February of 2021, the state of Texas experienced a freeze that the electric system, consisting of electric sources such as wind and gas and more traditional oil and gas power plants, was not prepared to effectively combat.[1] Nearly half of all Texans faced some type of disruption to water access,…
Continue ReadingTaking Out the Trash: Is Biden’s Plan for Eliminating Junk Fees an Effective One?
January 2, 2024
From Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets to ATM fees, consumers increasingly encounter junk fees. Lead Managing Editor Evelyn Doran explains and evaluates a recently proposed DOL rule requiring junk fee disclosures by financial advisors.
Continue ReadingBirthright Citizenship: An Unqualified Right?
October 31, 2023
By: Elise Skarda* The concept of birthright citizenship has been mentioned in the news frequently recently. Many conservative presidential candidates are calling for an end to birthright citizenship,[1] though it is an unqualified constitutional right. So what is birthright citizenship, where does it come from, and why is it unconstitutional to qualify it? Birthright citizenship…
Continue ReadingA New Future for Social Media Platforms, Courtesy of State Legislators.
May 13, 2023
By: Anitra Varhadkar
In March 2023, the Utah Governor signed into law a bill that greatly restricts social media use for minors, citing mental health. This blog post discusses whether or not mental health is the real reason for the legislation.
Examining the Constitutionality of Targeted Residential Protest Bans
May 12, 2023
By Alexandra Schrader-Dobris Introduction: Minnesota cities are steadily banning targeted residential protests in response to several Black Lives Matter demonstrations following George Floyd’s death in 2020.[1] That summer, over one hundred Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters picketed outside Minneapolis Police Union President Bob Kroll’s house, calling for his resignation as a result of his failure…
Continue ReadingDirect File Is a Step in the Right Direction that Still Leaves Out Some Taxpayers
October 11, 2024
By: Spencer Culbertson, Volume 43 Staff Member View/Download PDF Version: Direct File Is a Step in the Right Direction (Culbertson) In May 2024, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it would make Direct File a permanent option for taxpayers to e-file their income tax returns following the success of the 2024 Direct File…
Continue ReadingCrypto and the Climate Crisis
March 8, 2023
Cryptocurrency mining has done more than shake up financial industries – it has had an enormous impact on climate change as well. In this blog, JLI Note & Comment Editor Mallory Harrington breaks down how cryptocurrencies impact the environment and potential solutions to these problems.
Continue ReadingFace It: Police Can’t Be Trusted with Facial Recognition Technology
March 7, 2023
As facial recognition technology becomes more common, governments must confront the more sinister aspects of this new field, including privacy concerns, threats to free speech, and government surveillance. This piece by JLI Online Editor Joseph Scanlon breaks down the issues with police’s use of facial recognition technology.
Continue ReadingThe Respect for Marriage Act: Limitations, Protections, and Future Implications
March 3, 2023
In this blog post, Staff Member Elise Skarda reviews the impact of the much-anticipated Respect for Marriage Act, and, due to the Act’s limits, proposes further actions to be taken to protect same-sex marriage.
Continue ReadingUpdated Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Starting January 1, 2023: What’s Changing and Who Will Be Impacted?
February 10, 2023
*By Sydnie Peterson Effective January 1, 2023, the Minnesota child support guidelines will undergo various targeted changes that aim to have a large impact on child support awards. Child support awards are court ordered and intended to adequately provide for children’s “care, housing, food, clothing, transportation, and additional support for medical costs” and child care.[1]…
Continue ReadingState v. Khalil: How a Minnesota Supreme Court Ruling Led to the Amendment of a Minnesota Criminal Sexual Conduct Statute
February 6, 2023
In this blog post, staff member Remy Bell explores how the case of State v. Khalil impacted Minnesota’s criminal sexual conduct statute.
Continue ReadingExplainer: The Teamsters Local 320 Agreement
January 12, 2023
In this blog, staff member Selma El-Badawi breaks down the recent agreement between the University of Minnesota and the Teamsters Local 320.
Continue ReadingFirst Down, First Amendment: A Case Comment on Kennedy v. Bremerton School District
December 2, 2022
Note & Comment Editor Karissa Grapes analyzes a recent Supreme Court decision and discusses its impact on religious practices in schools.
Continue ReadingWorker-Led Organization: Is a New Labor Wave on the Horizon?
May 31, 2022
Andrew Selva examines recent efforts by workers to unionize in the face of resistance from corporate juggernauts.
Continue ReadingThe Arsenic Triangle of South Minneapolis
Cedar Weyker discusses ongoing public health and environmental concerns caused by the “arsenic triangle” in South Minneapolis.
Continue ReadingGentrification, Displacement, and Disparate Impact Liability: How Gentrification Theory is Not Cognizable Under the Fair Housing Act
May 2, 2022
by Adam Mikell* In the United States, the topic of housing has an ugly history comprised of decades of government-sanctioned discrimination and segregation carried out through racially-motivated practices such as “neighborhood composition” rules, racial covenants, steering, and redlining. In 1968—the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement—the Fair Housing Act (FHA) was passed to…
Continue ReadingAdministrative Censorship: The Pentagon’s Press Rules as an Abridgment of Press Freedoms
November 7, 2025
By: Jessica Payne, Volume 44 Executive Editor View/Download PDF Version: Administrative Censorship and the Pentagon Press Policy (Payne) Media organizations with Pentagon press access have faced a significant decision over the past several weeks: sign a newly adopted Pentagon press policy or lose access to the Pentagon.[1] In an unprecedented affront to well-established press First…
Continue ReadingWhat Happened to Liam? The Detention of Immigrant Youth
March 26, 2026
By: Mary Leniton View/Download PDF Version: What Happened to Liam? The Detention of Immigrant Youth (Leniton) The image of a five-year-old Minnesotan boy standing teary-eyed before federal agents in a blue bunny-eared cap is ingrained in the public’s mind. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took the boy from a running car. ICE agents…
Continue ReadingThe Mean of Affective Justice in the Defense of Anger
March 12, 2026
By: Nicolas C. Gonzalez* View/Download PDF Version: The Mean of Affective Justice in the Defense of Anger (Gonzalez) In a recent post here, Lubasha Heredia convincingly argues that anger has taken a key place in the recognition of legal legitimacy.[1] Anger is a driving force in motivating the elimination of injustice and expressing the violation of…
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