Faculty News
-
Prof. Moriearty Quoted in Washington Post on Racial Inequity in Trying Juveniles as Adults in Minnesota
July 14, 2020Professor Perry Moriearty was quoted in a Washington Post article regarding the inequity in legal punishment of young Black males in Minnesota. “Black juveniles in Minnesota are eight times more likely to be prosecuted as adults than white juveniles, and we subject them to extraordinarily harsh sentences,” said Moriearty. “Even as states across the country are abandoning life sentences for adolescents, we continue to permit life without parole or its equivalent. We are on our way to becoming an outlier.”
-
Prof. Smith Appointed as Co-Chair for ABA Tax Section Pro Bono & Tax Clinics Committee
July 13, 2020Professor Caleb Smith was appointed as co-chair of the ABA Tax Section’s Pro Bono & Tax Clinics Committee for a two-year term beginning July 2020. Professor Smith was selected by his peers to serve as co-chair after having served a two-year term as vice chair on that committee. The ABA Tax Section’s Pro Bono & Tax Clinics Committee frequently drafts and submits comments on IRS and Treasury regulatory guidance, provides CLEs, and participates in national ABA Tax Section meetings.
-
Binger Center for New Americans Executive Director Deepinder Mayell Appointed to Minnesota Legal Services Advisory Committee
July 13, 2020Deepinder Mayell, executive director of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans, was appointed to serve on the Legal Services Advisory Committee as a representative for the Minnesota State Bar Association on July 2, 2020 by the State of Minnesota Supreme Court. The committee appointment has a three year term. Mayell is a long-time advocate for legal aid from the start of his legal career at Merrimack Valley Legal Services in Lowell, Masschusetts where he also served on the statewide Race Equity Coalition and the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation Retention and Diversity Task Force. In Minnesota he worked as the director of the Refugee and Immigrant Program at The Advocates for Human Rights before joining the Binger Center for New Americans.
-
Prof. Klass Quoted in Bloomberg Law on Recent Court Decision Ordering Shutdown of Dakota Access Pipeline
July 9, 2020Professor Alexandra Klass was quoted in Bloomberg Law on the recent court decision ordering a halt to the flow of the Dakota Access Pipeline and its broader impact on environmental litigation. The Dakota Access decision shows that analysis won’t always work out in the pipeline company’s favor, said Klass. “It gives pause to this idea that once a project is built and running, there’s not going to be any adverse consequence with regard to environmental review,” she added.
-
Prof. Kritzer Quoted in New York Times Concerning the Receipt of Federal Aid by Successful Plantiffs’ Law Firms
July 9, 2020Professor Herbert Kritzer was quoted in a Reuters article that appeared in the New York Times concerning the receipt of substantial loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program by some of the largest and most successful plaintiffs’ law firms. In the article, Kritzer commented that [successful plaintiffs’ firms] “almost certainly have resources to carry them over when waiting for big settlements.”
-
Prof. Kitrosser Quoted by Reuters on Justice Department Restrictions on Outside Speech by Immigration Judges
July 2, 2020Professor Kitrosser is quoted in an article in Reuters on a Justice Department policy that bars immigration judges from speaking or writing in their personal capacities about immigration issues. In the article, Kitrosser explains that the Justice Department cannot get around First Amendment restrictions simply by defining any immigration-related speech as “official” in nature: “The case law does not work this way. … An employee only speaks in their official capacity when they are actually speaking in the course of doing their job. All other speech, including speech on matters that relate to their work, is personal capacity speech that can only be restricted if the speaker and public interest in the speech is outweighed by the government’s interest in suppressing it.” The article also cites Kitrosser’s observation that “The Supreme Court … has made clear that public employees have a crucial role in educating the public about their work.”
-
Prof. Orfield Quoted in the Washington Post on Driving Forces of Racial Inequity in Minneapolis
July 1, 2020Professor Myron Orfield suggests in the Washington Post that the abandonment of policies to racially integrate schools and neighborhoods contributed to large racial gaps, despite increases in social spending in segregated schools and neighborhoods.
-
Prof. Carbone’s Research on the Administration of Bail Cited by The New Yorker
June 30, 2020Professor June Carbone’s research on the administration of bail was cited in The New Yorker, in an article broadly examining the history and current state of the money-bail system. Citing a time when bail allowed the accused to remain free until trial only by identifying a guarantor for the amount that they owed if convicted—without putting up any money—the article quotes Carbone’s research naming this model the “last entirely rational application.”
-
Prof. Hickman Featured in Politico Coverage of Altera Cert Denial
June 26, 2020Prof. Kristin Hickman’s remarks to the Wall Street Journal regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in Altera Corp. & Subs. v. Commissioner, No. 19-1009, were featured in a Politico commentary regarding the same event. The Politico daily newsletter, “Morning Tax,” in a post entitled Making Sense of the Court on June 23, 2020, described Prof. Hickman as “perhaps the leading advocate for undercutting tax exceptionalism, the idea that taxes are so complicated or unique that they should be subject to different administrative rules” and took note of her suggestion that, irrespective of the denial of certiorari, the increased judicial scrutiny that the case represents will require Treasury and the IRS to take more care in drafting regulations.
-
Prof. Klass Quoted in Inside Climate News and Quartz on Minnesota AG Ellison’s Consumer Protection Lawsuit Against Fossil Fuel Companies for Climate-Related Harm
June 26, 2020Professor Klass was quoted in two recent news articles—in Inside Climate News and Quartz—discussing the lawsuit Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison ’90 filed against Koch, ExxonMobil, and American Petroleum Institute under the state’s consumer protection laws seeking civil penalties and restitution associated with defendant’s actions and statements relating to the sale of fossil fuel products causing climate-related harm.