Current Events
Locking the Door to the Country on the Way Out: The Trump Administration’s Final Attempt to Eliminate Protections for Asylum Seekers
January 22, 2021
Only weeks before the expiration of the Trump presidency, his Administration sought to create an alarming regulation that opponents have called “the death knell” to asylum law and protections for vulnerable migrants. Check out this post from staff member Katie McCoy, as she outlines the proposed rule and the situation that the Biden-Harris Administration inherits.
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 ReadingInmate 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 ReadingEviction/Housing Issues During COVID-19—Interview with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Joey Dobson
April 30, 2020
JLI staff members Maddie Sheehy, Adam Johnson, and Peter Schuetz recently interviewed Joey Dobson (Housing Policy Attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid). The group discussed how the pandemic can exacerbate health and safety issues in housing (mold, infestations, heat, etc.), the eviction moratorium, and how housing attorneys are advocating for their clients now and will be moving forward.
Continue ReadingDomestic violence and other gender-related issues during COVID-19 – Interview with Prof. June Carbone
April 24, 2020
JLI’s Editor-in-Chief, Navin Ramalingam, and Executive Editor, Abby Rauls, sit down with Prof. June Carbone, family law professor and faculty advisor for the journal, for the first in a series of video interviews for Inequality Inquiry with the faculty, practitioners and other legal experts about a variety of issues affecting law and inequality during COVID-19. They discuss the gendered dynamics surrounding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include the effect of quarantine on families and couples who are having to stay at home together, gender discrepancies in the “essential” workforce, funding of the healthcare system, and possible recourse for those who may be facing higher levels of domestic abuse and violence during these turbulent times.
Continue ReadingThe Case for Preserving Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Health Care Protections
December 5, 2017
by Bailey Metzger
On May 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published the final rule implementing § 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the Federal Register. The final rule addressed a wide variety of discrimination in the health care context, including discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability. Perhaps the most notable part of the rule finds that discrimination on the basis of gender identity constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex.
A Substantial Interest: Why the Government is Legally Justified in Prohibiting Disparaging Trademarks
July 31, 2016
by Jessica Mikkelson and Michael Van Muelken
Imagine sitting down on a Sunday afternoon with friends and family to watch your local football team play in “the big game.” Now picture the team being cheered on by several thousand fans. It seems like an idyllic Sunday afternoon. The only problem is that this team is named after a popular slur used to identify your racial or ethnic group. This slur is broadcast over television, the Internet, and in homes all across the country. This hypothetical is a reality for Native Americans today.
Pass Senate Bill 355: How Proposed Minnesota Legislation Brings the U.S. into Compliance with International Norms
May 25, 2016
by Maria Warhol
As the 2016 presidential election approaches, the issue of voting rights in the United States is more salient than ever. While millions of people will take advantage of their right to vote in the election, nearly six million U.S. citizens are unable to vote as a result of a felony conviction. Of this disenfranchised population, only 25% are incarcerated. The remaining 75% are in the process of completing supervised release (probation or parole) or have served their sentence entirely. This concern only deepens when data reveals that disenfranchisement policy disparately impacts some communities more than others. These concerning figures impact almost every state in the United States.
Immigration Rights During COVID-19—Interview with The Advocates For Human Rights’ John Bruning
May 15, 2020
JLI staff members Annali Cler, Kevin Thomson, and Marisa Tillman recently interviewed John Bruning, who serves as a staff attorney for The Advocates For Human Rights. The Advocates for Human Rights, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Minnesota, works to change systems and conditions that cause human rights abuses.
Continue ReadingJLI’s Statement of Solidarity
June 2, 2020
Black Lives Matter. The Journal of Law & Inequality extends its deepest sympathies to Mr. George Floyd’s loved ones and condemns the unequal legal system that continues to destroy Black American lives like Mr. Floyd’s. The Journal is deeply concerned that police brutality is disproportionately affecting Black Americans in our city and demands an independent and unbiased investigation into Mr. Floyd’s killing.
Continue ReadingThis 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 ReadingStatement 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…
Continue ReadingA New Minneapolis: Opportunities in the Redistricting of Minneapolis Wards
January 19, 2022
By Hannah Stephan* Since the completion of the 2020 U.S. Census, states and cities around the country have begun the process of redistricting. On the tail of a heated municipal election season, redistricting in Minneapolis is especially noteworthy as residents are preparing for a re-do of the City Council election two years from now.…
Continue ReadingImmigration Under the Biden Administration: An Interview with Attorney Erin Schutte Wadzinski
November 15, 2021
Interview by Grace Anderson* After four years of anti-immigrant, “Build the Wall” rhetoric from the previous presidential administration, President Biden came into office with promises to revitalize our nation’s immigration system. Almost a year into the Biden administration, JLI Staff Member Grace Anderson checks in with immigration attorney Erin Schutte Wadzinski, owner of Kivu Immigration…
Continue ReadingThe Supreme Court Vacated the CDC Eviction Moratorium – Now What?
November 2, 2021
Since the pandemic, some households have migrated away from large cities to smaller cities and suburbs. As the median rents rise in these areas, landlords are more eager to evict low-income renters and increase the rent.
Continue ReadingGeneral Counsel Abruzzo’s Memoranda Indicate a Bold, Pro-Worker Agenda at Biden’s NLRB
October 26, 2021
by Jon Erik Haines* National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo came into her role in somewhat unceremonious fashion, following the sudden sacking of Trump administration General Counsel Peter Robb. Her tenure also began under the auspices of then-candidate Biden promising that he would be the “most pro-union president” we have ever…
Continue ReadingJoint Publication: Racial Inequality in the Legal System Locally and Nationally
August 5, 2021
View/Download Issue PDF A note from JLI Vol. 39 Editor-in-Chief Navin Ramalingam: This special joint online issue, Racial Inequality in the Legal System Locally and Nationally, is a collaborative work among the six student-run legal academic journals across the three law schools in the state of Minnesota. The objective of the collaboration is to use our…
Continue ReadingWho’s Benefiting from Attorney General Settlement Agreements?
June 3, 2021
Anna Berglund* Lately, when we read about state Attorneys General (AGs) in the news, we hear about them suing battleground states to try to overturn election results[1] or suing the Trump administration 138 times—almost double the number of times the Obama and Bush administrations were sued—over various policies.[2] Although state AGs are increasingly ramping…
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…
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 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 ReadingThe 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 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 Reading“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…
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