Prof. Jill Hasday Quoted in Star Tribune About Ruling Against Minnesota Child Protection Legislation

Professor Jill Hasday, McKnight University Professor and Centennial Professor in Law, was quoted in the Minnesota Star Tribune about a court ruling earlier this month that affects legislation aimed at correcting racism in Minnesota’s child protection system. Hennepin County Judge Matthew Frank struck down the rollout of the Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act (MAAFPA) because it created a race-based government policy in violation of the 14th Amendment. The decision is a surprise setback for advocates who argued for years that Minnesota courts separate African American children from their families at wildly disproportionate rates. Prof. Hasday said Frank’s opinion was legally sound and that MAAFPA is the kind of legislative act that invites constitutional challenges. She said, “Minnesota appears to be applying different procedures for African American children and Native American children who aren’t covered by the Indian Child Welfare Act, then it applies to children of other races. That is an explicit race-based distinction and explicit raced-based distinctions are almost always unconstitutional.”