The Minnesota Independent

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Coleen Rowley mentioned as Supreme Court dark horse

By Chris Steller | 05.22.09 | 8:40 pm

Minnesotan Coleen Rowley has emerged in the last few days as a potential “off-the-grid” nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Rowley’s addition to unofficial SCOTUS “long lists” (as opposed to shortlists) comes as U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar downplays chatter that she might be tapped to replace retiring Justice David Souter.

ACLU files suit against Muslim-affiliated school, state education department

By Andy Birkey | 01.22.09 | 7:44 am

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed suit Wednesday against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy and the Minnesota Department of Education alleging a violation of the separation between church and state. TIZA was at the center of a media storm last year after the Star Tribune’s Katherine Kersten wrote an inflammatory commentary alleging religious instruction at the taxpayer-funded school. ACLU-MN investigated the allegations and in court documents filed in U.S. District Court said the Muslim organizations from which TIZA leases its space are illegally benefiting from the leasing arrangement.

ACLU: Afraid to say he’s gay, Larry Craig took wrong case to court

By Chris Steller | 01.08.09 | 2:09 pm

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s mistake wasn’t letting the clock run out on appealing his airport bathroom sex-solicitation case to the Minnesota Supreme Court — it was bringing the wrong case in the first place. That’s the view of Charles Samuelson, executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota (ACLU-MN), who thinks that a refusal to acknowledge his homosexuality impeded Craig’s ability to make his legal arguments.

Court rules Sen. Larry Craig can’t drop guilty plea; ACLU says, ‘They’re wrong’

By Chris Steller | 12.09.08 | 1:34 pm

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) cannot withdraw his guilty plea in the infamous 2007 Minneapolis-St. Paul airport bathroom sex case, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled today in an unpublished opinion. That means Craig is stuck with having copped in District Court to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct for allegedly signaling an interest in engaging in sex via foot taps from one restroom stall to another in which a undercover police officer was staked out. The decision’s “unpublished” status means the court doesn’t want their ruling used as precedent in future cases — interesting, in view of charges that Craig sought special treatment or was being singled out for preferential or especially harsh treatment because of his status as a U.S. Senator.

ACLU files FOIA request over domestic Army deployment

By Paul Schmelzer | 10.22.08 | 9:01 am

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a freedom of information (FOIA) request to the U.S. government over “reports that an active military unit has been deployed inside the U.S. to help with ‘civil unrest’ and ‘crowd control’…