A new weekly podcast on legal issues in Minnesota made its debut on Alpha News this week. James Dickey of the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) will be hosting “Minnesota Law Weekly” to update viewers on developments in important legal battles in the state.
Dickey is a senior trial counsel at UMLC, a nonprofit that focuses on “pro-freedom litigation.”
In the first episode, Dickey discussed two ongoing legal fights: halting the defunding of police in Minneapolis and fighting against voter fraud in Minnesota.
UMLC has been working on behalf of eight north Minneapolis residents and leaders to force Mayor Jacob Frey and the City Council to fund and hire the legally-required number of police officers in the city.
“For the third year in a row, the city of Minneapolis canceled a Fourth of July fireworks show, but that did not stop bad actors from unleashing a chaotic night of firework wars and shootings, including one that left seven people hospitalized,” Dickey said.
With only 80 officers on duty throughout the night on July 4, more than 1,300 9-1-1 calls were made in the city.
The Minnesota Supreme Court recently ruled that the mayor is legally obligated to employ a police force of 731 sworn officers, overturning a lower court’s decision. As of June 18, Minneapolis employed 564 officers.
Mayor Frey will now be required to present evidence of his efforts to recruit and retain a properly staffed police force in an Aug. 1 hearing in Hennepin County District Court, according to Dickey.
He said there is no evidence that the city did anything differently in 2021 than in 2020 to return order to Minneapolis.
“Immediate aggressive change — not a passive, weak approach — is necessary to restore peace to Minneapolis,” Dickey said.
During the podcast, Dickey also gave an update on two election integrity cases, including UMLC’s complaint against the secretary of state for his inaction on duplicate voter registrations in Minnesota.
Secretary of State Steve Simon claims he has no responsibility to get rid of the 586 known duplicate registrations, according to Dickey, who described this as an “abdication of duty.” The nonprofit is looking forward to a hearing to prove the secretary of state must fix these “obvious” election integrity problems, Dickey said.
Dickey also discussed UMLC’s case against Simon regarding signature verification on absentee ballots.
LISTEN to the first episode for more details:
Rose Williams
Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.
