Minnesota Lawyer

A nearly universally recognized gesture has handed the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to expand — or restrict — the rights of students and perhaps employees engaged in commentary on social media.

The recent occurrence of International Workers Day, a version of Labor Day, provides an opportune occasion to review the two proceedings that bolster the rights of working men and women.

The death in mid-February of talk show broadcaster Rush Limbaugh, at age 70, evokes the lore of libel here in Minnesota. Another luminary who preceded him in death by a week, Hustler magazine founder, Larry Flynt, adds to that legacy.

Last week’s occurrence of April Fool’s Day was a day for shenanigans and a reminder that of some of the jokes and pranks that have ended up in litigation in the federal and state courts in Minnesota.

Last year ended as the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals in a firearm case, and this year began with a bang with a pair of additional gun-related matters pending before that tribunal.

Guardians are subject to oversight by the judiciary. That scrutiny occasionally leads to litigation, which is usually fairly desultory and low-profile. But a ruling by the Minnesota Court of Appeals attracted attention.

The small number of unemployment compensation claimants who appeal adverse rulings by the state to the Minnesota Court of Appeals usually fail there, too.

The deaths late last year of a couple of notable Minnesotans evoked memories of their roles more than two decades ago in the evolution of defamation law in this state.

The King Day commemoration this week provides an opportune occasion to examine both the history of systemic racism and advancing remedial efforts to combat the scourge in Minnesota legal history.

The close results of the most recent presidential election in about a half-dozen battleground states recall some of the ballot brouhahas encountered in Minnesota in recent memory.