Administrative Law

Minnesota ?. Also the Land of Lincoln

Posted on August 21, 2008
Today, the Minneapolis-based Center of the American Experiment released its latest symposium of essays ? Learning from Lincoln: Principle and Pragmatism, Getting the Balance Right.Individually, and collectively, these essays touch upon President Lincoln?s special brand of statecraft and the methods that he used to overcome practical challenges...

"Making Your Case": The Gift for a Lawyer You Love

Posted on August 15, 2008
This past weekend I had the occasion to fly home to Minnesota from the East Coast, by way of a discount airline carrier. With this particular carrier, comparatively low fares were combined with a bewilderingly long layover in Atlanta before passengers and crew could depart for the prairie...

Damn, This Traffic Jam. It Hurts My Car to Go So Slow.

Posted on August 13, 2008
The City of St. Paul has released its Traffic Management Plan for the downtown area during the upcoming Republican National Convention. The plan will begin after the evening rush hour on Friday, August 29, and will end by Saturday, September 6.Current information on Capitol-area road closures during the Convention includes the exit from Route 94-East to 5th Street and the exit from Route 35E to Kellogg Boulevard...

Construing Statutes and the Art of the Possible

Posted on August 13, 2008
In an interesting opinion issued yesterday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit turned away the challenge of an Iowa landowner to her exclusion from certain farm payment programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture...

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Our Neighbors and Friends: District Court Seeks Comment on Pro Hac Vice Rules

Posted on August 12, 2008
The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota has circulated for public comment proposed changes to Local Rule 83.5. Under the proposed rules, the District Court would jettison the requirement that ?local counsel? be a resident of Minnesota ? presumably making appearances by attorneys who reside in Wisconsin or the Dakotas, but who are licensed to practice law in Minnesota, to serve in this capacity...

Hello?. Are You Still There?

Posted on August 12, 2008
To the regular readers of these pages, please accept my apologies for the drop off in posts recently.As always, work comes first before blogging ? and in recent weeks I had some important writings to complete for my day job.Also, I was away from my writing desk on a bit of extended travel that I will describe in more detail in subsequent posts...

Minnesota Supreme Court Grants Review of Cost Recovery Case

Posted on July 17, 2008
In an Order issued this morning, the Minnesota Supreme Court has granted further review of a decision of the Court of Appeals, from May, as to the recovery of certain overhead costs by CenterPoint Energy.In May, the appellate panel had reversed the decision of the Public Utilities Commission disallowing the recovery of costs that were presented to the Commission after more than a year; holding that the PUC did not ?consistently apply the principles that it articulated and applied? in two earlier requests to recover costs beyond the one-year limitations period...

Legislative Reform: Which Do You Prefer, an Army of One or the Committee of the Whole?

Posted on July 12, 2008
I have followed with interest the legislative reform discussions now being undertaken by the House Governmental Operations, Reform, Technology and Elections Committee. This week, the Committee held the first of three hearings on potential changes to the parliamentary rules of the House...

Boyd to Lead PUC, Wergin to Help

Posted on July 11, 2008
Governor Tim Pawlenty announced today that he has appointed Dr. David C. Boyd, to lead the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.Boyd, of Lakeville, is a Professor of Chemistry and, before his appointment to the Commission, chaired the Chemistry Department at the University of St...

A Good Story for the Sabbath: Jews at Sea

Posted on July 11, 2008
This item is over a year old ? but I only just learned about it; thought that it was kind of cool and wanted to share it.The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier U.S.S. Harry S. Truman is carrying a wooden ark and torah scroll (see a U.S. Navy photo here) that was rescued from the Holocaust by Lithuanian Jews...

D. Haw: 45-Day Time Limit Under IDEA is Not Jurisdictional; Just Motivational

Posted on July 10, 2008
In an interesting opinion from the Aloha State, the U.S. District Court for District Court of Hawaii vacated the dismissal of a disabled child?s petition in a special education case ? instructing that the hearing officer still had jurisdiction to resolve the child?s claims under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act...

Eighth Circuit: Hearing Subpoenas Not Required by the Due Process Clause

Posted on July 09, 2008
In an interesting opinion issued today, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that Social Security claimants do not have an unqualified right to summon and cross-examine agency physicians who render unfavorable medical assessments in their cases...

Right, Center, Left: A Supreme Court Roundup for Lawyers of Every Stripe

Posted on July 08, 2008
For me, the signature sounds of July are crickets, fireworks and lawyers arguing over the just-recently concluded U.S. Supreme Court Term.So you won?t miss out on any of the last item, below, I have linked to four different Term-ending reviews. Individually, and collectively, these broadcasts will have you longing for the High Court?s return on October 6...

Why July 4th is Such a Big Deal

Posted on July 04, 2008
I occasionally have the chance to speak to high school, college and civic groups on topics relating to public service and self-government. To set a larger context for the messages that I will deliver, I frequently ask these audiences: What made the American Revolution so Revolutionary?And while defeat of the British is certainly part of an answer to that question, to me ? a former political science major ? it is the smaller portion of the answer...

An Outer Edge to Johnson v. Fabian?

Posted on July 03, 2008
In an interesting, and no doubt important ruling in Minnesota?s development of the law on the right to avoid self-incrimination, a panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals has turned away the Fifth Amendment challenge of a civilly-committed sex offender, Brad Ronald Stevens...

Same Time, Different Perspectives on Our Record of Preserving Privacy and Liberty

Posted on July 03, 2008
In an interesting juxtaposition, even for the Federal City, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and former FBI Special Agent and Minneapolis Chief Division Counsel, Coleen Rowley, were each addressing Washington audiences, at nearly the same time, on the same subject: The recent record of maintaining personal privacy and civil liberties during the War on Terror...

IPAD Sets Conference on Security Information

Posted on June 30, 2008
The Minnesota Department of Administration's Information Policy Analysis Division ? IPAD ? announced today that it will be hosting a meeting of data practices stakeholders on protecting "security information" held by government agencies.The conference will be held on Monday, July 21, 2008 from 9:00 a...

Our Field of Dreams ? May Government Do the Leveling?

Posted on June 29, 2008
In an interesting term-ending opinion issued on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act. The Court set aside the so-called "Millionaire?s Amendment;" a provision that adjusted both contribution and coordinated party expenditure limits in those federal races in which a candidate contributes more than $350,000 of personal funds to his or her own campaign...

On 44

Posted on June 27, 2008
Appearing more like a finely-tuned interrogatory, than the whisper of one?s heart, this year my birthday wish came in four parts. I wanted some time here; a glass or two of this; a slice of this to steady my wishing candle; and a few quiet moments to read what Justice Alito wrote yesterday here...

The Best Intersection in Town: The Annual Meeting of the MSBA Ad Law Section

Posted on June 25, 2008
This morning I had the great pleasure and honor to serve as the program emcee at the Annual Meeting of the Minnesota State Bar Association?s Administrative Law Section.This morning?s program, which focused upon the intersections between state and federal administrative law, featured a series of very lively and interesting presentations...

Panel to Friends of the Riverfront: A Writing is Guaranteed, Not a Hearing

Posted on June 25, 2008
In an interesting published opinion issued yesterday, a panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals turned away a challenge to the issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness by the Minneapolis City Council. A local advocacy group, Friends of the Riverfront, and others, challenged the Council?s issuance of the Certificate ? which is a key step in DeLaSalle High School?s plans to construct an athletic facility next to the school?s campus on Nicollet Island...

Among the Chairman's Maxims, Credibility is Key

Posted on June 22, 2008
The Chairman of Minnesota?s Judicial Selection Commission, Ronald J. Schutz, was featured in Monday's issue of the National Law Journal. In this issue, Schutz, who also heads the intellectual property litigation group at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciersi, shares some of his strategies for persuading juries...

Ear Candy

Posted on June 21, 2008
Because I am juggling a list of household chores with the some writing for work this weekend, I thought that I would leave readers with links to some my recently-acquired iPod favorites. Among the clips that you might also want to check out are:n An unbelievably interesting and thought-provoking lecture from University of Chicago Law professor Richard Epstien entitled "Is the Administrative State Consistent with the Rule of Law?" Originally presented as part of Chicago's Best Ideas sessions, this audio clip is a wonderfully brisk and challenging aerobic workout for your synapses; accessible here...

Harry Blackmun Was No Bigot, Says George Mason Professor

Posted on June 20, 2008
In an interesting article posted to the Social Science Research Network today, Ross E. Davies, Professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law and Editor-in-Chief of The Green Bag, critically analyzes a yarn told about Justice Harry Blackman in Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong's legendary book The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court...

A Hum-Dinger

Posted on June 20, 2008
When I am not at my day job in the State Capitol Complex, I have the good fortune and genuine honor to serve on the Board of Directors of the recently-merged social service agency Tubman Family Alliance ? Chrysalis Center for Women. The combined agency is our state?s largest battered women?s shelter and a premier provider of outpatient mental health services to families in need...

Parallel Habeas Petitions and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination

Posted on June 17, 2008
In an interesting unpublished opinion issued today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals turned away the challenge of a prison inmate who was disciplined for refusing to participate in sex offender treatment.At issue in the case are the limits of the Commissioner of Corrections? authority to outwardly adjust the date on which an inmate will be released from prison, as a punishment for the inmate?s earlier refusal to participate in sex offender treatment...

My Father's Day Celebration with Luke's Father

Posted on June 15, 2008
Commemorating the arrival of the Star Wars memorabilia collection to the Minnesota Science Museum, the children and I had the occasion to visit with Darth Vader, Sith Lord and aide-de-camp to Emperor Palpetine.As we are both government officials, our conversation began convivially enough...

University of the Automobile

Posted on June 11, 2008
A mentor of mine makes the observation that if American workers were simply to use the time that they spend in their cars commuting to and from work, listening to worthwhile broadcasts, they could ?change their cars into universities.?For those of us in the Twin Cities, where the average round-trip commute runs just shy of 45 minutes per day, a year?s worth of commuter study would amount to nearly 200 hours of mobile class time...

False Claims Act Not an ?All-Purpose Anti-Fraud Statute?

Posted on June 10, 2008
In an interesting opinion issued yesterday, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling as to the proof that qui tam relators must assemble in order to recover damages under the False Claims Act.At issue in the case was whether former employees of a second-tier subcontractor for the U...

District Court: Per Diem Suit Would Intrude on Management of Legislature

Posted on June 03, 2008
In a Memorandum Opinion and Order issued last Friday, Judge Kathleen R. Gearin of the Ramsey County District Court dismissed an action challenging recent increases to the amounts that legislators receive for daily expenses.Last winter, a local advocacy group, two state representatives and four citizen-taxpayers challenged the approvals of a rise in per diem payments for State Senators from $66 to $96 per day and for State Representatives from $66 to $77 per day...

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