News

In a speech delivered to a standing ovation yesterday at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., former Vice President Walter Mondale (’56) said that America is witnessing "the most important moment for fair housing since 1968." That year saw the passage of the landmark Fair Housing Act, which then-Sen. Mondale co-authored and shepherded through a difficult legislative process to enactment.

The Law School's Immigration and Human Rights Clinic recently helped a Salvadoran woman gain asylum in the United States.

The client came to the United States in 2012 to escape her abusive husband, who had physically, sexually, and psychologically abused her for many years in El Salvador. He struck her on numerous occasions, using tree branches, ropes, and belts. He also beat their children, and frequently threatened his wife's life.

For the past 13 years, Natalie E. Hudson ('82) has served on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, issuing more than 1,100 written opinions and "demonstrating clearly her unique aptitude for ruling on some of the most challenging legal issues facing our state today," Gov. Mark Dayton said.

Hudson will replace Justice Alan Page (’78), who recently retired after reaching the state's mandatory retirement age of 70. Page had served on the Minnesota Supreme Court for 22 years. Before beginning his legal career, Page played in four Super Bowls as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has joined a Habeas Petition filed by the Center for New Americans and Dorsey & Whitney, on behalf of Nelson Kargbo, a refugee from Sierra Leone, challenging his two-year detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota.

The University's interdisciplinary Energy Transition Lab (ETL), which is based at the Law School, held a summit on July 15 at which national and local experts examined the policy, technology, regulatory, and market drivers that affect energy storage in Minnesota. Of the more than 200 participants, roughly half were from the private sector, with the rest representing government, academia, and nonprofit organizations. Highlights included:

The American Sociological Association has awarded its 2015 Gordon Hirabayashi Human Rights Book Award to The Contentious History of the International Bill of Human Rights by Professor Christopher N.J. Roberts. The award is given annually by the ASA Section on Human Rights to the author whose book "demonstrates the most thoughtful, competent, or innovative analysis of a theoretical or empirical issue" in the field of human rights.

John R. Tunheim (’80) has succeeded Michael J. Davis (’72) as chief judge of the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota. Under federal law, the judge who is most senior in service within a district is designated as the chief judge and serves as the court's chief judicial officer for seven years. The leadership change took effect on July 1. Judge Davis will remain with the court as a senior judge.

Sukanya Momsen (’16) has been awarded second place in the American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section's 2014-15 law student writing competition. Her article, "Discharging the Duty to Warn with Multilingual Warning Labels," will appear on the Section's Web site within the next few weeks and will be publicized in its magazine, The Brief. Momsen was also recently named the winner of the Minnesota State Bar Association's 2015 Law Student Award for Excellence in Employment Law.

In a decision issued yesterday in the case of Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the availability of a "disparate impact" cause of action arising under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). In writing the opinion for the 5-4 majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy cited a brief written by Professor Myron Orfield and other housing scholars; the brief described the history of housing segregation in the United States that led to the passage of the FHA in 1968.

The Robina Institute is pleased to present The Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center, a new website that serves as a central source of information related to American sentencing guidelines systems.