Inequality Inquiry >> Category

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…

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 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…

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Crypto 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.

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Face 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.

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Updated 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]…

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Birthright 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…

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Gentrification, 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…

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Ignoring Inequalities and Refusing to Consider Consequences: The Supreme Court’s Blocking of OSHA’s Emergency COVID Standard

March 31, 2022

By Brandon Vaca[1] On January 13, the six conservative Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court stayed (blocked) and effectively struck down the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) emergency vaccine-or-test standard (Standard) for employers.[2] The Court’s reasoning in its unsigned opinion ranges from vexing to troubling. As the three dissenting Justices pointed out, the Court…

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Out of the Cell and Into the Fire: Inherently Dangerous Prison Work Assignments, the Eighth Amendment’s Guarantee of Safe Conditions of Confinement, and California’s AB-2147

April 13, 2022

by River Lord[1]   Using the labor of inmates in the United States has a long and controversial tradition. Many observers have identified how higher rates of policing and incarceration among minority communities, coupled with the widespread use of inmate labor in exchange for sub-minimum wages, create a system of labor exploitation and racial oppression…

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A Healthy Start: Minnesota Is Pioneering an Alternative to Prison Nurseries, and Other States Should Follow Its Lead

March 28, 2022

by Rachel Pokrzywinski*   In May 2021, Governor Tim Walz signed Minnesota’s Healthy Start Act (HSA) into law. The first of its kind in the United States, the HSA authorizes placement of pregnant and postpartum inmates into alternative housing—such as halfway houses and residential treatment facilities—with their newborns for up to one year after birth.…

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Statement on COVID-19: Addressing Inequity Within Our Law School

January 31, 2022

JLI Editorial Board Over the past year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted deeply-rooted inequities within our law school community. Coupled with the normal pressures of law school, the pandemic has strained (and continues to strain) students’ mental, physical, and financial wellbeing. And the challenges brought by the pandemic are exponentially increased for…

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Two Years Since Dobbs: How Access to Contraceptives and IVF Has Changed

November 9, 2024

By: Claire Albrecht, Volume 43 Staff Member View/Download PDF Version: Two Years Since Dobbs (Albrecht) I. Introduction Prior to June 24, 2022, the government “could not control a woman’s body or the course of a woman’s life: It could not determine what the woman’s future would be.”[1] On that date, the Supreme Court denied women…

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Under Siege: The Legal Profession at a Crossroads

April 24, 2025

Incoming Volume 44 Editor-in-Chief Jaxon Alston and Professor June Carbone, Robina Chair for Law, Science, and Technology trace how the current attacks on lawyers, law firms, and the justice system began, examine why major law firms are capitulating to external pressures, and explore the ripple effects on pro bono representation and education. The very foundations…

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The Surprising Cause of Increasingly Horrific Executions: Death Penalty Abolitionists

April 23, 2025

By: Kristin M. Boynton, Volume 43 Senior Managing Editor View/Download PDF Version: The Surprising Cause of Increasingly Horrific Executions – Death Penalty Abolitionists (Boynton) The January 2024 execution of Kenneth Smith garnered worldwide attention,[1] including an official statement by the United Nations High Commissioner that criticized the new method used by the State.[2] The UN…

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How Recent Executive Actions Deliver Reproductive Healthcare Discrimination

April 7, 2025

By: Kavya Mahesh, Volume 43 Staff Member View/Download PDF Version: How Recent Executive Actions Deliver Reproductive Healthcare Discrimination (Mahesh) Systemic healthcare discrimination targeting vulnerable populations has been a persistent obstacle in ensuring quality medical services can be enjoyed equally by everyone. The impacts of the current healthcare inequities on maternal and reproductive care result in…

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The TRAIN Act and Copyright: Generative AI’s Ongoing Impact on Creators

February 27, 2025

By: Jessica Payne, Volume 43 Staff Member View/Download PDF Version: The TRAIN Act and Copyright (Payne) Since generative artificial intelligence’s (AI) soar to popular use over the past several years, a slew of legal issues has risen demanding the attention of Congress. The past two Congressional sessions have featured a significant number of AI-related legislation…

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Fifth Circuit En-Banc Split Produces Dangerous Theories of Racialized Politics

January 27, 2025

By: Dawn Dudley, Volume 43 Staff Member View/Download PDF Version: Fifth Circuit En-Banc Split Produces Dangerous Theories of Racialized Politics (Dudley) In November, the Fifth Circuit issued an equally divided en-banc ruling regarding whether a white student was discriminated against because of his race in violation of Title VI.[1] Title VI prevents discrimination based on…

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