A spate of recent scholarship uses fiduciary metaphors to model the roles of various public officials. One such article in the California Law Review posits that judges are fiduciaries of the people and therefore have the power (akin to that of corporate directors) to do whatever is in the best interests of the people, even…

The United States is experiencing expanding international criticism for its felon disenfranchisement laws, which leave millions of voices silent in the democratic process. Domestically, the United States’ disenfranchisement laws are balanced between conservative politicians calling for retribution against criminals and progressive politicians looking to advance rehabilitation goals in the criminal justice system. With no easy…

In 2014, a small hospital in Maplewood, Minnesota made headlines. The country watched as a patient, sixty-eight-year-old Vietnam veteran, Charles Elliot Logan, took a metal pole to staff sitting at the nursing station. In a video released by the Maplewood Police Department, the patient is seen beating staff members with the metal object as they…

Arbitration is a quasi-judicial system with flexible procedural rules and largely private proceedings used as an alternative to litigation. Pre-dispute arbitration is the contractual agreement to arbitrate a dispute before said dispute arises between parties; pre-dispute arbitration is the type of dispute resolution commonly seen in employment contracts. An agreement to arbitrate may be found…

Under current state law, the Minnesota Expungement Statute limits which felony convictions are eligible for expungement. An expungement is the removal of a conviction from a person’s criminal record. In Minnesota, expungement means that criminal records are sealed rather than permanently destroyed.  In other words, each state agency is ordered to seal that criminal record…

On August 6, 1862, Albert Cashier, a resident of Belvidere, Illinois, enlisted in the 95th Illinois Infantry. Remembered for his bravery, Cashier served valiantly during the United States Civil War. Cashier’s regiment, part of the Army of the Tennessee, fought in more than forty engagements. His regiment took part in the siege of Vicksburg, the…