Inequality Inquiry
Shorter Form Content from the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality
Legal Accountability for Private Prison Companies Operating ICE Detention Facilities
March 31, 2026
By: Emma Walsh View/Download PDF Version: Legal Accountability for Private Prison Companies Operating ICE Detention Facilities (Walsh) Who is benefiting from the federal government’s ongoing campaign of abductions and unlawful detentions of Minnesota residents in the name of immigration enforcement? The private corporations that ICE contracts with to hold detainees certainly are. The Trump…
Continue ReadingDismissing Immigration Court Appeals: Alleviating the Courts’ Caseloads or Undermining Due Process?
By: Sofia Consing View/Download PDF Version: Dismissing Immigration Court Appeals Alleviating the Courts’ Caseloads or Undermining Due Process? (Consing) Before President Trump took office for his second term, he vowed to target and deport immigrants from American communities as well as eliminate lawful pathways for new migrants to come to the United States. From December…
Continue ReadingRescission of the Endangerment Finding
By: Addie Stromberg View/Download PDF Version: Rescission of the Endangerment Finding (Stromberg) After much nervous anticipation, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) rescinded the Endangerment Finding.[1] On February 12th of this year, the EPA announced that it was rescinding both the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and the Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for light, medium,…
Continue ReadingIs Operation Metro Surge Really Over?
By: Teresa Padrón View/Download PDF Version: Is Operation Metro Surge Really Over? (Padrón) Operation Metro Surge is one of the largest immigration enforcement operations in recent memory,[1] with roughly 4,000 troops deployed to Minneapolis.[2] During the occupation of Minneapolis, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed Renee Good,[3] and Alex Pretti.[4] ICE…
Continue ReadingLegal Consequences of the Media’s Relationship with Domestic Violence
March 30, 2026
By: Jennifer Godbolt View/Download PDF Version: Legal Consequences of the Media’s Relationship with Domestic Violence (Godbolt) It Ends with Us is a film that premiered on August 9, 2024. This film is based on a Colleen Hoover novel of the same title. Press swirled and intensified in the lead-up to the movie release, with significant…
Continue ReadingThe “Gay Disease”: Trump’s Material Attacks on “DEI” Impacts HIV Prevention Programs
By: Art Teal View/Download PDF Version: The “Gay Disease”- Trump’s Material Attacks on “DEI” Impacts HIV Prevention Programs (Teal) Many JLI blog readers will by now be familiar with the second Trump administration’s policy of targeting the LGBTQ+ community. From first-day executive orders asserting federal recognition of binary sex assigned at birth to removing…
Continue ReadingThe Equity Stack: How Ownership Structures Define Wealth
March 26, 2026
By: Mitchel Floding View/Download PDF Version: The Equity Stack- How Ownership Structures Define Wealth (Floding) Venture-backed startups have created some of the largest personal fortunes in modern history, particularly in the technology sector, where founder ownership levels at the time of an IPO typically average between 15% and 20%.[1] The financial results we see today…
Continue ReadingWhat Happened to Liam? The Detention of Immigrant Youth
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…
Continue ReadingICE Must Use Front Plates, Cannot Use Out-of-State Plates in Minnesota
February 26, 2026
By: Patrick Kissel View/Download PDF Version: ICE Must Use Front Plates, Cannot Use Out-of-State Plates in Minnesota (Kissel) Minnesota has experienced something few predicted an American state would ever experience: a federal occupation. Masked agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have roamed the streets…
Continue ReadingMinnesota’s New Paid Family and Medical Leave Act: Benefits for All
February 24, 2026
By: Amy Wegner View/Download PDF Version: Minnesota’s New Paid Family and Medical Leave Act- Benefits for All (Wegner) Minnesota passed the Minnesota Paid Family Medical Leave Act in 2023, which provides paid leave for workers who take anywhere between 12 and 20 weeks of leave for “medical leave, bonding, or caring for a family member.”[1]…
Continue ReadingIn re Benson, A Year Later
February 23, 2026
By: Claire Girod View/Download PDF Version: In re Benson, A Year Later (Girod) In October 2024, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled on Matter of Commitment of Benson, holding that those subject to civil commitment have a right to waive counsel. The Minnesota Commitment and Treatment Act (MCTA) provides a statutory right to counsel for those…
Continue ReadingIn Defense of Anger: Reason, Morality, and the Law
February 19, 2026
By: Lubasha Heredia View/Download PDF Version: In Defense of Anger: Reason, Morality, and the Law (Heredia) Anger occupies an uneasy place in legal discourse. Courts, commentators, and officials routinely valorize calm, neutrality, and restraint, while framing anger as irrational, destabilizing, or corrosive to reasoned judgment. Our legal culture emphasizes objectivity, neutrality, and formal legal…
Continue ReadingThe Surge of Pro Se Plaintiffs
February 5, 2026
By: Krista Colbert View/Download PDF Version: The Surge of Pro Se Plaintiffs (Colbert) For millions of Americans, the decision to proceed pro se (self-representation) is not ideological or strategic—it is economic. The justice gap reflects a systemic failure of the United States legal system to provide equal justice under the law. Nowhere is this failure…
Continue Reading“Defending the Homeland”: Where Does it End? History’s Demonstration of How Far ICE Can Go
February 4, 2026
By: Sophia Artley View/Download PDF Version: “Defending the Homeland” Where Does it End? History’s Demonstration of How Far ICE Can Go (Artley) In the land of the cold and snow, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become a key point of contention. The Trump administration has ramped up ICE presence and raids on the Minnesota…
Continue ReadingA Flashlight in the Black Box of Tax: How the New Math Error Act Matters for Taxpayer Rights and Inequality and What Still Remains in the Dark
February 3, 2026
By: Cecelia Peters View/Download PDF Version: A Flashlight in the Black Box of Tax How the New Math Error Act Matters for Taxpayer Rights and Inequality and What Still Remains in the Dark (Peters) A New Law Shines Light on IRS Math Error Notices The Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act (IRS Math Act)…
Continue ReadingRedrawing Democracy: The Supreme Court’s Texas Map Ruling and the Future of Racial Equality in Voting
January 29, 2026
By: Maya Frazier View/Download PDF Version: Redrawing Democracy The Supreme Court’s Texas Map Ruling and the Future of Racial Equality in Voting (Frazier) When the Supreme Court of the United States allowed Texas to implement a newly drawn congressional map that a lower court found diluted the voting power of Black and Latino communities[1], it did…
Continue Reading“One Big Beautiful Bill” Education Caps: Lowering Student Debt or Limiting Access to Education?
January 28, 2026
By: Emma Kizer View/Download PDF Version: “One Big Beautiful Bill” Education Caps Lowering Student Debt or Limiting Access to Education? (Kizer) As the United States approached its 249th birthday, the country’s eyes were turned towards Congress’s heated debates surrounding the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was filled with cuts to social safety net…
Continue ReadingFighting Pre-Crime?: Law Enforcement, Artificial Intelligence, and Predictive Policing Technology
January 27, 2026
By: Aaron Spitler* View/Download PDF Version: Fighting Pre-Crime? Law Enforcement, AI, and Predictive Policing Technology (Spitler) For law enforcement agencies (LFAs), the allure of artificial intelligence (AI) is hard to resist. Vendors of AI-powered products have pitched them to police departments by emphasizing how this software can help stop crime in its tracks. The most…
Continue Reading“Words Written on Water”—Targeted Immigration Enforcement Under the Trump Administration
January 22, 2026
By: Kaylie Vasquez, Volume 44 Lead Articles Editor View/Download PDF Version: “Words Written on Water”—Targeted Immigration Enforcement Under the Trump Administration (Vasquez) “America has been a democracy of convenience. Rights are granted to those who align with power. For the poor, for the people of color, for those who resist injustice, rights are but…
Continue ReadingThe Cost of Fairness: Why LIHTC’s Expense Can Be a Progressive Strength
January 21, 2026
By: Sumati Srivastava View/Download PDF Version: The Cost of Fairness Why LIHTC’s Expense Can Be a Progressive Strength (Srivastava) The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is the United States’ largest federal program for incentivizing the development and preservation of affordable rental housing. LIHTC builds are often criticized for being more expensive than market-rate construction,…
Continue ReadingPunishing Public Service: How the New PSLF Rule Endangers Legal Aid and Other Safety-Net Services
January 20, 2026
By: William Olson View/Download PDF Version: Punishing Public Service How the New PSLF Rule Endangers Legal Aid and Other Safety-Net Services (Olson) On October 31, 2025, the United States Department of Education (ED) passed a new rule altering the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program that allows the Secretary of the Department to find…
Continue ReadingAssessing the Role of State and Local Government Subsidization of Private Redevelopment Initiatives in Michigan
December 31, 2025
By: Ronald Smith View/Download PDF Version: Assessing the Role of State and Local Government Subsidization of Private Redevelopment Initiatives in Michigan (Smith) The influence of private wealth on democratic processes has long been an issue of both public and legal scrutiny in the United States. Recently, much publicity was—rightfully—generated over incredible sums donated by the…
Continue ReadingMinnesota’s Cumulative Impact Law: What it is & Where it’s at
December 1, 2025
By: Emiliana Almanza Lopez, Volume 44 Managing & Research Editor View/Download PDF Version: Minnesota’s Cumulative Impact Law What it is & Where it’s at (Almanza) Introduction In 2023, the Minnesota legislature passed a Cumulative Impacts Bill aimed to increase community participation and consideration in the permitting process for air-polluting facilities within a sub-section of areas…
Continue ReadingThe Justice Gap: The Case for Expanded Legal Aid Services
November 10, 2025
By: Dallas Hayden View/Download PDF Version: The Justice Gap: The Case for Expanded Legal Aid Services (Hayden) A few weeks after I moved out of my Washington Avenue apartment, I received a cryptic email demand from my landlord, “bath trash out: $50.” I could not understand what the message meant or why I had received…
Continue Reading