Petition Filed to Enforce Minnesota Supreme Court Ruling on Minneapolis Police Staffing
UMLC Data Requests Will Delve into Minneapolis Police Department Budget Cuts
Minnetonka, Minn. – This month, the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) launched an investigation into the Minneapolis City Council’s controversial 2025 city budget, putting in a formal data request under the Data Practices Act. UMLC is looking for more information on the city’s irresponsible cuts to the Minneapolis Police Department. With the request, UMLC seeks data […]
The Minneapolis City Council Should Say Officer Mitchell’s Name
The Star Tribune has published moving and troubling stories about the death of Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell and the increases in targeted attacks and killings of police officers since the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots (“Assaults against police increasing,” June 2). Reporters covering police issues for the last three to four years should have been […]
UMLC Presses Minneapolis City Council on Police Funding Violation – Urges Swift Compliance
The Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC), which represented the plaintiffs in Spann v. Minneapolis City Council, issued an urgent call, demanding in a letter that the City Council correct its ongoing violation of the Minneapolis City Charter, section 7.3. This demand follows the Minnesota Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Spann v. Minneapolis City Council, where […]
Lack of Police Force Fuels Minneapolis Fourth of July Chaos
For the third year in a row the city of Minneapolis canceled a Fourth of July fireworks, but that did not stop bad actors from unleashing a chaotic night of firework wars and shootings, including one that left seven people hospitalized. This night of terror is a direct product of Mayor Frey failing to employ […]
Minneapolis Police Show-Cause Hearing Set For August 1, 2022
Following last week’s Minnesota Supreme Court decision in favor of the Upper Midwest Law Center, Hennepin County District Court has set the show-cause hearing in the Minneapolis police defunding case to August 1, 2022. Mayor Jacob Frey was ordered by the Minnesota Supreme Court to either certify that the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) meets the […]
Upper Midwest Law Center urges Minnesota Supreme Court to reinstate district court judge’s decision for restoration of police protection in Minneapolis
Last week, Upper Midwest Law Center Attorney James Dickey argued before the Minnesota Supreme Court on behalf of eight North Minneapolis residents who are seeking to restore neighborhood safety by enforcement of the Minneapolis City Charter’s minimum police requirement. In July of 2021, the District Court ruled that, by alternative writ of mandamus, the City […]
Minnesota Supreme Court grants review of police defunding decision
The Minnesota Supreme Court granted the Upper Midwest Law Center’s (UMLC) petition for review of the Minnesota Court of Appeals decision that held that the Minneapolis Mayor has no duty to employ a single police officer, despite the Charter’s police-to-population ratio requirement. The order also granted UMLC’s motion to expedite the appeal so that a […]
UMLC Explains the Minneapolis Court of Appeals Decision Allowing Police Defunding
Watch as James Dickey, UMLC’s Senior Trial Counsel, and Jeff Van Nest, Special Counsel to UMLC for Public Safety and Crime and Justice Fellow at Center of the American Experiment, break down the Minnesota Court of Appeals’ March 14, 2022 decision overturning the decision requiring Minneapolis to fund and employ a police department: Donate here […]
Victory for Minneapolis: the City Council must re-fund the police
The voters have spoken: Minneapolis must fund the police. Upper Midwest Law Center’s lawsuit against the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey now takes center stage following last night’s defeat of the proposed defund-the-police Charter amendment. After the defeat of the amendment, the City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey must take immediate action to […]