Inequality Inquiry
Shorter Form Content from the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality
Unhoused and Handcuffed
January 13, 2023
By Eleanor Khirallah Under the guise of addressing homelessness and mental illness in New York City, on Tuesday, November 28, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced a new directive that allows the involuntary hospitalization of people suspected to be mentally ill on the street or subway. The city directive authorizes peace officers and police officers to…
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 ReadingLaufer Gives ADA Testers a Second Green Light
January 11, 2023
By Matthew Schmitz ***Disability communities differ on whether they prefer person-first (“person with a disability”) or identity-first (“disabled person”) language.[1] Here, I have opted for identity-first language but want to acknowledge that each member of the disability community may have a different preference. The First Circuit bucked the trend of its sister circuits on a…
Continue ReadingD.C. Statehood: A Half-Made Promise Losing Momentum
In the newest blog post on Inequality Inquiry, staff member Sergi Torres reviews and responds to arguments against D.C. statehood.
Continue Reading“It’s Absolutely Immoral”: The Denial of Mental Health Treatment in U.S. Prisons
January 9, 2023
Staff member Nicole Carter interrogates why prison inmates’ mental health needs are neglected in this new blog post.
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 ReadingThe Forgotten Child Bride in the United States
December 1, 2022
In this blog post, staffer Rachel Emendorfer discusses child marriage in the United States, the current landscape of legal issues surrounding marriages involving minors, and the specific impact child marriage has on young girls.
Continue ReadingReforming the Troubled Teen Industry
November 30, 2022
By Alida Weidensee* Imagine yourself as a teenager. You wake up in the middle of the night to adult strangers in your bedroom. Maybe there are police officers too. These strangers force you to go with them, telling you that there is “a choice to do this the easy way or hard way.” You might…
Continue ReadingTelehealth Providers: A Temporary, Tenuous Solution for Post-Dobbs Access to Medication
November 29, 2022
JLI Managing Editor Lottie James examines the vital, but limited, role of telehealth providers play in maintaining access to medication abortions after the Dobbs decision.
Continue ReadingCuba’s 2022 Family Code: A Different Model for Social Progress
November 2, 2022
In this blog post, staffer Buchanan Waller analyzes the development of and reasons for success behind Cuba’s 2022 Family Code.
Continue ReadingAbortion Asylees: Is There Still a Path Forward After Dobbs?
October 30, 2022
In this blog, JLI’s Lead Online Editor Madelyn Cox-Guerra analyzes the impact of the overturning of Roe v. Wade on asylum-seekers who come to the United States.
Continue ReadingWhat’s Brewing with Bruen?
Kenneth Cooper examines the impact of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, 142 S.Ct. 2111 (2022), and New York’s public defender and legal aid offices unexpected involvement in the case.
Continue ReadingPurging False Narratives Around Cash Bail
October 28, 2022
By Christian Purnell. With Illinois’ Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA) set to take effect in a matter of months, opponents are stepping up their efforts to spread misinformation about the law on social media. Homing in on a provision of the PFA that abolishes cash bail in the state’s pretrial system, Twitter trolls, and even…
Continue ReadingHow Worker Centers Can Build Working Class Solidarity Outside of Traditional American Labor Law
June 23, 2022
View/Download PDF Version By Jon Erik Haines† Those who believe in the power of the labor movement have struggled to process the continued, seemingly unstoppable decline in union membership over the last 50 years. The percentage of the American workforce that is represented by a union fell to a significant low in 2020.[1] The causes…
Continue ReadingA Full Constellation of Benefits: How In Re the Custody of N.S.V. Exemplifies the Need for Courts and Legislatures to Readdress Definitions of Parenthood in Light of the Recognition of Same-sex Relationships
June 21, 2022
View/Download PDF Version By Esther Raty† Two women fall in love, move in together, and decide to start a family.[1] While two women cannot both genetically[2] be the parent of one child, they can choose when to have a child, which sperm donor to use, and how to co-parent a child.[3] However, no matter how…
Continue ReadingMore than Miranda: Exploring Preventive Solutions to Juvenile False Confessions
May 31, 2022
Juveniles, at a right rate, waiver their Miranda rights during interrogations with police, but they are also more likely to make false confessions. This blog explores solutions to this problem, including modifications to Miranda and requirements for counsel.
Continue ReadingEmergency Intellectual Property Reform: COVID-19 and Vaccines
The healthcare industry, like others, relies on patent and trade secret law to protect sensitive and profitable information. This blog discusses the extent to which these laws should apply, though, to life-saving vaccines during a global pandemic such as COVID-19.
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 ReadingWorker-Led Organization: Is a New Labor Wave on the Horizon?
Andrew Selva examines recent efforts by workers to unionize in the face of resistance from corporate juggernauts.
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 ReadingThe Constitutionality of SB 1142
April 28, 2022
By Chase Lindemann[1] On March 1, 2022, Oklahoma State Senator Rob Standridge introduced Senate Bill 1142 to the Oklahoma Senate Floor.[2] SB 1142’s title states that this bill is an act “prohibiting certain schools and school libraries from maintaining or promoting certain books.”[3] If a parent believes that there is a violation of SB…
Continue ReadingWhat’s Wrong With My Hair?: Discrimination Against Black Hair in the Workplace
April 26, 2022
By Jocelyn Rimes* I spent the days leading up to my first day of my summer law clerk position agonizing over how I would do my hair. While still unsure, I eventually decided that I would do a twist-out, sectioning my hair in small twists and untwisting it the next day for defined curls. On…
Continue ReadingSigning Away Your Right to Parent: How Safety Plans Evade Due Process Requirements in Child Welfare Proceedings
April 20, 2022
By Eleanor Khirallah While safety plans are supposedly voluntary and lack the court’s involvement, there have been many questions about the coercion involved in having parents sign these agreements. This is particularly true because these plans may be used to deprive parents of their right to custody of their children without due process of law.
Continue ReadingAn Illogical and Harmful Assessment: Credibility Findings in Trauma Survivor Asylum Applicants
April 18, 2022
By Linnea VanPilsum-Bloom* The current focus on and process for establishing credibility in asylum application interviews is illogical and harmful. A person who seeks asylum in the United States will either request asylum affirmatively, by applying to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or through their potential removal in Immigration Court. In either process, the…
Continue ReadingRacism, Social Control, and the Regulation of Bar Admissions
April 14, 2022
By Professor David Schultz* Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. famously declared: “The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.” When it comes to admission to practice law, one could say that “The life of admission to practice law has not been fairness but exclusion.” From its birth, America was a racist…
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