Prof. Richard Painter Quoted in Star Tribune About Minnesota Supreme Court Ruling Regarding Indecent Exposure

Professor Richard Painter, S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law, was quoted in the Minnesota Star Tribune about the Minnesota Supreme Court’s ruling that women could not be criminally charged for being topless in public, and the woman at the center of the ruling, Eloisa Plancarte, who has struggled with mental illness and drug addiction and was originally charged with indecent exposure. Her history has led some to question whether it was ethical for outside groups to use someone so vulnerable as the face of a high-profile cause. Prof. Painter said there are clear issues around gender equity in society that have been fought for decades and remain to this day, but that doesn’t mean a case like Plancarte’s should be used in the fight. He said the state Supreme Court using the case of a woman struggling with mental illness to “make a big point about gender and women’s body parts” holds the court up to ridicule. He said, “The lawyer who represents her should be focusing on her best interests, not fighting for a particular cause, and the lawyer who represents the state should be focusing on how best to address this type of problem consistent with the public interest, and the public interest here would be getting mentally ill people the help they need.”