The Quadriga
Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

Most of us probably would not think of being asked to work through lunch as comparable to having our pocket picked, but that is, in fact, how American jurisprudence defines it. Wage theft is the term the law uses whenever an employee is deprived of lawfully earned wages, whether an employer does so intentionally or not.

A Triple Play for Fairness

The right to … vote and to stand for election, is at the core of democratic governments based on the will of the people. This right is enshrined in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and is cited as the bedrock of functioning democracies. Nevertheless, democracies are increasingly under threat of domestic and foreign efforts to undermine electoral processes.

Voting – The Role of Law Students and Attorneys in Safeguarding this Human Right: An Excerpt

From Standing Rock to Line 3, water-protectors, climate activists, and local communities are resisting pipeline projects that threaten their wellbeing. A worrying trend suggests that extractive companies may be taking a page out of their own international playbook and coordinating with local police forces and private security firms to try to break resistance movements.

Line 3 Pipeline Spotlights Troubling Global Trend in Policing Protests

Introduction And the sign said “Long-haired freaky people need not apply” So I tucked my hair up under my hat And I went in to ask him why He said, “You look like a fine upstandin’ young man I think you’ll do” So I took off my hat and said, “Imagine that Huh, me workin’ …

Long Hair, Don’t Care—Why Employers Should Reconsider Their Dress-Code Policies

Katy Rollins is a 3L at Mitchell Hamline, interested in exploring harm reduction policies on the path to abolition of the prison industrial complex.  Almost forty years since the move towards deinstitutionalization, the debate regarding how to best serve those with mental illness continues. After the campaign for deinstitutionalization began in the 1980s, a number …

The Need for Early and Continuing Mental Health Treatment as shown by the COVID-19 Pandemic

Second-year Mitchell Hamline student Jacob Skurka discusses the recent suit against Google.  For those of us with Android smartphones, Google is a pervasive part of the experience of using our device. Apps made by Google come preinstalled with nearly every phone sold, and even the way that we usually get new apps, the Play Store, …

Committee Floor or Open Court? Where will Big Tech’s Next Regulation Come From?

In the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death earlier this fall, it is important to reflect back on her legal journey towards equality, which led to her being named the second woman on the Supreme Court. Aside from being a legal giant, the “Notorious R.B.G.” was a cultural and feminist icon who lived an extraordinary …

Remembering the Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Amanda Teske

This article by Adela Carrasco and Todd Howland outlines the current international human rights obligations related to the right to vote found in human rights treaties the U.S. has signed and ratified. The authors demonstrate that there are five ways the U.S. fails to meet these human rights laws and how each failing has a …

Minnesota Should Lead The U.S.’s Unfinished Journey From Slavery To Granting All U.S. Citizens The Right To Vote

Mindy Greiling, former Minnesota State Representative - The hardest I ever worked to get a law passed during my twenty years in the Minnesota Legislature was a mental health policy bill reforming the civil commitment statutes. The new law made it a bit easier to get care—through civil courts—for people with serious mental illness whose brains didn’t allow them to realize they were ill. To my disappointment, it wasn’t always implemented consistently.

Does a Law No One Knows About Have Any Effect?

State Representative Kelly Moller ’98 - All Minnesotans deserve to feel safe in their communities. Students and teachers deserve to feel safe in schools, employees deserve to feel safe at work, and families deserve to feel safe while seeing a movie, worshipping, or enjoying an afternoon at the mall. Unfortunately, attacks on innocent people carried out by someone with a firearm have led to tragic deaths and a loss of security for many. Our gun violence epidemic is real, and as a prosecutor, is something I see repeatedly. As a state legislator, the need to take action is an issue I constantly hear about from constituents.

Do Red Flag Laws Strike a Balance Between Second Amendment Rights and Countering Domestic Terrorism?