Volume 50, Issue 3
October 2024
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Dedication to Professor Emerita Marie Failinger
I am extremely honored to have been asked to write a dedication of this issue of the Mitchell Hamline Law Review in honor of my dear friend and remarkable colleague, Marie Failinger. Marie and I started our teaching careers at Hamline University School of Law on the same day more than forty years ago. I…
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Steel or Sand? Protecting the Indiana Dunes Through Community Activism, The National Park Service, and The Clean Water Act
On May 25, 2023, in Sackett v. EPA, the United States Supreme Court redefined the scope of the Clean Water Act in defiance of the Act’s text, forty-five years of agency practice, and the Court’s own precedent. The ramifications of Sackett are frightening: at least fifty percent of wetlands in the United States may now…
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Minnesota’s Misclassification Solutions Lead the Way But Leave Undocumented Workers Behind: How Minnesota Can Increase Worker Protections
Whether a worker is classified as an “employee” or “independent contractor” may seem like an inconsequential legal distinction, but a worker’s classification has the power to change the trajectory of their life. The story of one Minnesota construction worker, José Alfredo Gómez, who fell two stories while working on a house in 2022, illustrates the…
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An Unlikely Hero: How Pigs Will Save Minnesota’s Newest Clean Energy Law from Commerce Clause Scrutiny
Electricity is an indispensable commodity, inseparable from modern-day life. Americans in particular account for around one-sixth of energy consumption worldwide. And yet, while we cannot live without it, electricity obtained from nonrenewable sources plays a major role in the deterioration of our environment. In fact, around thirty percent of the United States’ carbon dioxide emissions…
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Election Integrity and the First Amendment: A Statutory Analysis of States’ Regulations of Election Deepfakes
In May 2019, a conservative Facebook page posted a video of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that quickly spread via social media networks. The video, taken from a speech she delivered on a Wednesday, made it appear that Pelosi was drunk. Her words sounded slurred, and her body language seemed sluggish. By that Thursday, the video…
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Please, Help Yourself: A Best Practice Model Analysis on the Self-Represented Litigants in America’s Legal System
Self-represented litigants face a daunting task navigating the court system alone and are often left without a sense of control. Although access to an attorney may not prevent all legal turbulence, a person does not typically choose to represent themselves unless it is necessary. Engaging with the court system takes money, time, and energy. Many…