Bob CollinsThere’s a good reason why Minnesota lawmakers spend hours during floor debate arguing about the wording of laws they intend to pass. Words matter.
Take the state’s law on first-degree burglary, for example. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Tag: Minnesota Supreme Court
A divided court declined to find unconstitutional a provision in the state’s vehicle forfeiture law that lets police confiscate a car in a household where someone has three or more DWI convictions. Read more →
A divided Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that a Minneapolis firefighter can sue for discrimination under the state’s Human Rights Act because the department refused to allow him to wear tennis shoes because of an injury.
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The Supreme Court, like many states, put a provision in its rules that guarantees we often won’t see coverage; it gave attorneys for both sides the right to object. If one side objects, the cameras are banned. End of story.
That’s what happened Monday. Read more →
Nathan Kinsey was fired in 2016 because of the confrontation, which was videotaped and spread by social media. The city said he didn’t report his use of force. Read more →
Last September, the appeals court overturned the firearms and drug
convictions of suspected drug dealer Cortney John Edstrom, saying if a court ruled a drug sniffing dog outside an apartment isn’t an invasion of privacy, the Fourth Amendment would be of little use to apartment dwellers.
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Terrance Sargent didn’t pay his income taxes in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 and in 2016 the state put a lien on him. Read more →
It is unlikely that the Minnesota Legislature envisioned a case of a son suing his father when it passed a bill years ago to encourage landowners to open their land to the public for hunting. Can your son be “the public”? Read more →
When Tyler Johnson was told by a police officer in North Branch in November 2015 that he could be charged with a more serious felony if he did not agree to urine or blood testing because of a suspicion that he was driving under the influence, he was getting bad information. Read more →
The Court’s description of the case reads like a cheap novel you can’t put down. It — and the dealer’s Yelp reviews — will also make you never want to buy a used vehicle again.
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A divided Minnesota Supreme Court today further defined the areas of people’s property where police can’t search without a warrant.
It’s a fascinating case which goes to great lengths to define what area of someone’s property is protected by the Fourth Amendment and what area is fair game for a search by police without a warrant. Read more →
In Minnesota, it is illegal to carry a gun while under the influence of alcohol. The literal translation of that word — carry — led to charges being dropped against a man who was stopped by a Maple Grove police officer because he wasn’t carrying the gun; it was in his car’s console. Read more →
The court ruled in the case of Tracy Thompson, who had sought an order for protection in September 2015 against her ex-husband, John Schrimsher, based largely on allegations of domestic abuse several years earlier, including being kicked, choked, knocked over, and slapped, some of which occurred while she was pregnant. Schrimsher denied the allegations.
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Burglar Lionel Lopez, who stole a man’s cellphone and wallet from a motel room in Willmar in November 2015, has struck out again in his claim that he’s not a burglar because he was in the motel legitimately and a motel room isn’t a separate building under the state’s burglary law. Read more →
By most accounts Thomas Sonnenberg was a Good Samaritan; that’s how Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman characterized him at a press conference, and that’s how most media in the Twin Cities characterized him.
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