Volume 47, Special Joint Issue

After the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Officer Derek Chauvin and three other MPD officers, the student-run legal academic journals at Minnesota’s three law schools, like various institutions across this nation, were forced to reckon with the stark racial inequality that had been present among us long before this nation…

Years after the civil rights movement, educational challenges in public schools have continued to plague classrooms and fill courtrooms. During the 1970s, litigation examined the equitability of financing in public education systems. Equity challenges later progressed into challenging academics, resources, and opportunities. By 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court found that the Kentucky public education system…

Lawyers often occupy powerful positions in the highest levels of our government and economy. Whether drafting legislation, prosecuting, or defending crimes, representing indigent clients in housing court, or finalizing corporate mergers, attorneys influence and operate within one of the most critical professions in the United States. Lawyers can have a profound impact in designing and…

The things that make a good Judge, or good Interpreter of the Laws, are, first, A right understanding of that principal Law of Nature called Equity; which depending not on the reading of other mens Writings, but on the goodness of a mans own natural Reason, and Meditation, is presumed to be in those most,…

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 most serious charge brought against George Floyd’s killer, Derek Chauvin. Prosecutors can find novel ways to charge felony-murder for almost any unintended death, and they often use it…

“(The police) are a very real menace to every black cat alive in this country. And no matter how many people say, ‘You’re being paranoid when you talk about police brutality’—I know what I’m talking about. I survived those streets and those precinct basements and I know. And I’ll tell you this—I know what it…

In disconnecting the “political bands” that linked “the thirteen United States of America” to Great Britain, the founders of our nation said that “all men are created equal . . . [and] are endowed . . . with . . . unalienable Rights . . . [to] Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” What…

For much of the world, 2020 was a troubling year, but few places saw as much uproar as Minnesota. The police killing of George Floyd set off protests in Minnesota and around the world, even as a pandemic and economic downturn hit minority communities with particular force. But, somehow, the year ended with an event…

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 of Minneapolis City Council members called…

For my contribution to this special issue of the Minnesota Law Review, I will attempt to situate the problem of black underrepresentation at America’s law schools within the broader context of racial hierarchy in American society. The former has generated an extensive body of legal scholarship and commentary, centering primarily on the racial impact of…