Current Events
Inmate Rights and the Prison/Jail System During COVID-19—Interview with Prof. Susanna Blumenthal
May 9, 2020
JLI staff members Abbie Hanson and Jen Davison recently interviewed Professor Susanna Blumenthal in a conversation about COVID-19’s effects on inmate rights and the prison/jail system. Professor Blumenthal co-directs the Program in Law and History at the University of Minnesota and she is an expert in criminal law. Professor Blumenthal’s research and writing focuses on the historical relationship between law and the human sciences. In this discussion, the group highlights the challenges of containing a virus in inherently constrained spaces, the damaging results on inmate rights, and how groups are working to ensure that incarcerated individuals receive adequate protection during a pandemic.
Continue ReadingDeadly Force: How George Floyd’s Killing Exposes Racial Inequities in Minnesota’s Felony-Murder Doctrine Among the Disenfranchised, the Powerful, and the Police
March 8, 2021
View/Download PDF Version Greg Egan[1] I. Equity in Peril: How Felony-Murder Charging Discretion and Widely Varying Punishments are Deployed Against White Defendants, Defendants of Color, and Peace Officers Minnesota’s second-degree felony-murder statute represents a unique and creative charging mechanism that affords wide discretion to prosecutors. This makes it ripe for inequitable application. It is the…
Continue ReadingA 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.…
Continue ReadingElder Evictions: Relief Coming 2021
November 19, 2020
Consumer protections and regulations of ALFs are long overdue in Minnesota, and the changes effective 2021 will be a welcome relief to older adults across the state.
Continue ReadingThe $2 Billion-Plus Price of Injustice: A Methodological Map for Police Reform in the George Floyd Era
March 22, 2021
View/Download PDF Version David Schultz† Introduction The death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer forced America again to confront the connection between racism and law enforcement. It also compelled the City of Minneapolis to act. Merely a few days later on June 7, 2020 a majority…
Continue ReadingOut 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…
Continue Reading2020 Summit for Civil Rights – What Is To Be Done? How Can We Help?
December 1, 2020
“How Are We Supposed to Move Forward with THIS Police Force After This?”: The Stalled Reform Movement in Minneapolis
March 26, 2021
Gabrielle Maginn* On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. The horrifying incident, in which Floyd calls out for his mother and tells Chauvin and the other officers present that he can’t breathe, was caught on camera and broadcast widely. In the days and weeks that followed, residents of…
Continue ReadingIgnoring 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…
Continue ReadingThe Movement Lawyer of 2020
August 11, 2020
Want to hear how two recent University of Minnesota Law grads chose to respond to the tragic killing of George Floyd? Click the link to learn more about the inspiration behind the “Breathless” podcast, created by Ian Taylor, Jr. (’19) and Haaris Pasha (’19).
Continue ReadingHow We Got Here: Race, Police Use of Force, and the Road to George Floyd
April 1, 2021
Long before the killing of George Floyd, the United States has struggled to mitigate racially arbitrary use of force by the police. This article seeks to explain how we got to the killing of George Floyd. This article contends that that the law—especially the decisions of the Supreme Court and political choices made by politicians—has helped to enable the relatively unchecked use of force against people of color.
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 Reading2020 Summit for Civil Rights – Who’s Profiting?
November 23, 2020
The History of Anti-Asian Discrimination, Racism, and Xenophobia – Interview with Prof. Linus Chan
April 5, 2021
In light of the recent spike in anti-Asian violence associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Vol. 40’s Rachel Pokrzywinski (Executive Editor) and Heather Chang (Editor-in-Chief) met with University of Minnesota Law School Professor Linus Chan to discuss the origins of violence against Asian people in the United States, the role of hate crime legislation,…
Continue ReadingThe Arsenic Triangle of South Minneapolis
May 31, 2022
Cedar Weyker discusses ongoing public health and environmental concerns caused by the “arsenic triangle” in South Minneapolis.
Continue ReadingAvoiding Atkins: How Tennessee is on the Verge of Unconstitutionally Executing an Individual with Intellectual Disabilities
November 18, 2020
If the state executes an intellectually disabled individual, but no one knows of the intellectual disability, has the state violated the constitution? It is our sincerest hope that Pervis Payne and others in a similar procedural labyrinth that could lead to what everyone agrees would be an unconstitutional execution are provided an opportunity to present the merits of their claims of intellectual disability. Justice, decency, and the Constitution demand it.
Continue ReadingJLI’s Statement on Brooklyn Center Police’s Killing of Daunte Wright
April 14, 2021
Gabrielle Maginn, Hannah Stephan, and the JLI Editorial Board Black Lives Matter. Daunte Wright was a father, a son, and a member of our Twin Cities community. On April 11th, 2021, a White Brooklyn Center police officer killed Daunte, a Black man. The loss of the life of our 20-year-old neighbor is a tragedy. The…
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 Reading2020 Summit for Civil Rights – Is America Ready for a 2nd Reconstruction? A 3rd “Founding”?
November 23, 2020
This Week in News: Responses to the Killing of Daunte Wright
April 15, 2021
As part of JLI’s response to Daunte Wright’s killing by a Brooklyn Center police officer on Sunday, April 11th, Inequality Inquiry has compiled relevant news and legal-adjacent updates from the Twin Cities metro area.
Continue ReadingWhy a Tuesday in November? An Original Intent Argument for Increased Voter Accessibility
November 25, 2020
What is so important about a singular “Election Day” and why is it some Tuesday in November? To reinforce the original intent of legislators in 1845, we should make adjustments to election day to make it more convenient for voters, just as they did for farmers in the 1800’s.
Continue ReadingJLI’s Statement Regarding Chauvin Verdict and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice
April 21, 2021
Gabrielle Maginn, Heather Chang, Navin Ramalingam, and the JLI Editorial Board Yesterday, twelve jurors found Derek Chauvin, a White former Minneapolis police officer, guilty on all counts—third-degree murder, second-degree unintentional murder, and second-degree manslaughter—for killing George Perry Floyd, Jr., on May 25, 2020. This was an extraordinary case, bolstered by the bravery of the witnesses…
Continue ReadingResponse to MPD’s Killing of George Floyd
June 2, 2020
by Jen Davison and the JLI Editorial Team On May 25, 2020, a White Minneapolis Police Department officer killed George Floyd, a Black man in our Twin Cities community. The White police officer killed Mr. Floyd while Mr. Floyd was in police custody, and bystanders captured the scene of Mr. Floyd’s final…
Continue Reading2020 Summit for Civil Rights – Awards Ceremony
December 1, 2020
Thanks for joining us, your support, and for engaging in an important and timely conversation. We look forward continuing on the journey of establishing a more just and equitable society.
Continue ReadingConstitutional Avenues for Challenging Social Media Monitoring by Law Enforcement
May 25, 2021
Stephen Earnest* Introduction Most Americans use social media on a regular basis.[1] Indeed, according to a recent report from the Global World Index, the average American allocates more than two hours a day to social media interaction, and that number appears to be increasing.[2] It should then come as no surprise that law enforcement agencies…
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