Latest news with #MinnesotaSupremeCourt
CBS News
3 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Minnesota immigration lawyer reflects on long journey from Mexico to law career
On May 9, Juventino Meza was sworn in as attorney by the Minnesota Supreme Court inside the Capitol building in St. Paul. Meza's journey from being undocumented to working his way to becoming an immigration attorney started when he was a boy. Meza was born in Jalisco, Mexico, in 1988. He grew up in an agricultural town and was the youngest of five siblings, who shared a one-bedroom house. Meza's parents immigrated to the United States while he was still a child. "I remember being a really angry teenager because I didn't understand why my parents left me," said Meza. "I was just so young and didn't understand what was going on. And so I think that was the toughest part of family separation for me." That separation from his family led him to struggle with emotions while growing up in Jalisco. "I remember being the worst kid to my sisters who were taking care of me, and I would run away and go hide out in the mountains," said Meza. His family members, one by one, made their way to the United States in 2003. At age 15, Meza made it to the U.S. with his sister. "We woke up early and someone drove us to the airport in Guadalajara, which is the big city in Jalisco, and then we took a flight to Mexicali, and then someone picked us up, and then they took us to the border and walked us," said Meza. Arriving somewhere on the outskirts of Mesa, Arizona, Meza would see something that sticks with him as a powerful moment of humanity. "We ended up in a playground, and there were teenagers playing basketball, and one of them saw my sister and went and brought her water," said Meza. "They were kind enough to bring my sister water, and that felt so human to me. I think about that moment a lot. It gets me really emotional – the humanity in the situation and bringing water to my sister. Meza was scared when he first arrived, but was excited because he hadn't seen his parents in years. "I remember also being excited because I was going to see my parents. I hadn't seen my mom in three years and I didn't know my dad, because my family says he moved to the U.S. when I was about 5 or 6," said Meza. "I was going to meet my dad and see my mom again and my other siblings again." Reunited with his family, it was just the beginning of his journey to adjusting to life in the United States. Meza was enrolled at Arlington High School, now known as Washington Magnet High School. When Meza arrived in Minnesota from Mexico as a teenager, he didn't speak a word of English. He was supposed to start his junior year of high school. Instead, a school interpreter suggested he be placed in ninth grade to give him more time to learn the language and adjust to life in the United States. Beyond the language barrier, Meza faced another challenge: his immigration status and sexual identity. "I started getting bullied for being gay by the other Latino kids. And, you know, there was a time when I ended up dropping out of school," said Meza. He would later return to school, and at that time, he met mentors who would change his life. Meza's school counselor introduced him to College Possible, a college access program for underrepresented students. "She said, 'I don't know what we're going to do, but we'll figure it out,'" said Meza. Together, they applied to colleges across the country, navigating a patchwork of policies for undocumented students. The process was confusing and full of uncertainty, but Meza leaned into it, not just for himself, but for others like him. Those mentors got him into Augsburg College with a full-ride scholarship. During his time there, he would meet someone who would influence his decision to become a lawyer. That realization came years after college began, during his work with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. Meza met attorney John Keller there, someone he describes as calm, brilliant and deeply committed to justice. Keller was advising lawmakers and helping shape policy in addition to representing clients. "I thought, maybe I want to be like John Keller," said Meza. "I want to be a lawyer, and I want to represent people like my family." That conviction took hold in 2012, around the time Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was announced. Meza began leading community workshops with NAVIGATE. By 2015, Meza had applied to law school. Getting in was only the first challenge. Paying for it would prove an even steeper climb. Though Minnesota had recently passed its version of the DREAM Act, opening up in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students, the costs of legal education remained difficult. Meza eventually earned a spot at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. He began classes in 2016 despite financial pressure. He paused his studies twice, working in San Francisco and later in Minnesota to afford tuition. "I was just so embarrassed," said Meza. "Embarrassed not to have money to stay in school." Then came a call from Linda Moen, the school's dean of students. She had tracked him down and called him. "She just said, 'We haven't heard from you. What's going on?'" said Meza. "She didn't judge me. She just wanted to know how we could get me back on track." He eventually returned, finishing his final two years and graduating in 2023. Meza says it was a difficult journey. "Law school is so isolating. I was always working, always stressed about money. I barely got to be a student," said Meza. After graduating, Meza set his sights on passing the bar exam. "The first time, I was working full-time and barely had time to study," said Meza. "I missed the passing score by just a few points." Determined not to go through it again, Meza saved up, took three months off and studied up to 70 hours a week. In April 2024, he got the news that he had passed. At that time, Meza was filled with pride and long-awaited relief, but also hesitation. "I still didn't know how the bar would handle my immigration status," said Meza. "It wasn't until I read that part that I knew it was over and that my immigration status had nothing to do with the bar exam application." His joy was tempered by caution. A trusted attorney advised against bringing his family to the public swearing-in ceremony, out of concern for their safety. "It was really heartbreaking to hear, I've always brought them along and it was bittersweet," said Meza. "To enjoy for a couple hours knowing that I will be sworn in and then finding out that it's not a good idea to bring them, was pretty heartbreaking." Meza was sworn in as an attorney at the St. Paul Capitol on May 9, along with dozens of others under the Minnesota Supreme Court justices. Meza was still able to bring the swearing-in ceremony to his family. "They'll be able to watch online, and then we're throwing a party, and then we're gonna do a private swearing-in so that they can be there. A judge is coming and it's going to be great," said Meza. Just a day before his swearing-in ceremony, Meza received his green card. "I wasn't supposed to go to college, I wasn't supposed to graduate high school, I wasn't supposed to get married to a man, I wasn't supposed to go to law school. I did all of that, and my family has been through all of it, and it's been beautiful," said Meza. "I'm just really thankful that my parents made that choice, and I can't imagine what that was like for them, but I'm glad that they did." Now, as a licensed attorney, Meza is using the system that once excluded him to fight for others like him. He plans to practice immigration law, drawing on more than a decade of experience as an organizer and advocate. For Meza, silence has never been an option. He was a key figure in the fight to pass the Minnesota DREAM Act — a battle that took more than 10 years. It was a victory that taught him the value of public visibility, even in the face of fear. "The moment we go silent, that's when we lose more and more," said Meza. "If we don't push back, there will be more abuses than what we're seeing already." As an openly gay man, an undocumented student and now a legal professional, Meza believes progress lies in building bridges across movements. "What's going on in immigration law is just one slice of everything else happening," he said. "We're part of different communities — and when we recognize those connections, that makes us stronger." At Arlington High School, where he learned alongside students from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, those early experiences shaped how he now sees today's immigration challenges — as a continuation of a broader civil rights struggle. "If you understand the civil rights movement: segregation, bombings, dogs, water hoses, the violence we saw then is, in many ways, happening to us now," said Meza. "Maybe in less graphic ways, maybe not." He cited recent tragedies, including the Texas teenager who died by suicide out of fear that her undocumented parents would be deported. "We need to learn from the past. People put their lives on the line to change unjust systems. I think that's the moment we're in again," said Meza. Now, he's turning that hard-earned knowledge into action as an attorney — someone equipped not just to advocate in the streets, but to defend and protect in court. "We need comprehensive, humane immigration reform," said Meza.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
Minnesota Supreme Court reverses woman's indecent exposure conviction
May 1—ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Supreme Court overturned the indecent exposure conviction of a woman who exposed her breasts in a Rochester gas station parking lot in 2021. The court's unanimous opinion, filed on Wednesday, April 30, determined that the state did not provide evidence to prove that Eloisa Rubi Plancarte "lewdly" exposed her body parts. Plancarte, of New Prague, was convicted in Olmsted County District Court of a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure in December 2022. "Criminalizing the exposure of female — but not male — breasts does not provide Minnesotans with adequate notice as to the conduct the indecent exposure statute prohibits because a binary approach to breasts fails to recognize the more nuanced physical realities of human bodies, whether they are intersex, transgender, nonbinary, or breast cancer survivors," Associate Justice Sarah Hennesy wrote. "Would a transgender man be prohibited from exposing his chest?" Hennesy continued. "What about a transgender woman who has had top surgery? Where do the chests of intersex and nonbinary persons fit within this dichotomy? And how do we treat the exposed chest of a breast cancer survivor who has had a mastectomy?" The case stems from an incident on July 28, 2021 when a Rochester police officer responded to a call of a woman walking around a gas station parking lot with her breasts exposed, court documents said. Officers arrived and observed Plancarte walking around without her shirt on. When an officer asked Plancarte why she kept exposing herself, Plancarte told him she was a stripper. Plancarte was charged and convicted in Olmsted County with willfully and lewdly exposing her private parts in a public place. Plancarte argued the conviction violated her right to equal protection under the law when she appealed her case in 2023, which resulted in a divided opinion, according to court documents. The Minnesota Supreme Court was petitioned to review three issues: whether female breasts are "private parts," whether evidence proved Plancarte "lewdly" exposed her breasts, and whether the statute violates the federal and state guarantees of equal protection. In Hennesy's concurrence, she wrote that the state failed to prove that Plancarte "lewdly" exposed her breasts. Hennesy also determined that because breasts are not reproductive organs nor excretory organs," they are not "private parts." "Female breasts, on the other hand, are sexualized by societal stereotypes, and there is a great risk — an unacceptable risk, in my view — that any determination of whether their exposure constitutes 'conduct of a sexual nature' will be based on oversimplified beliefs or assumptions based on gender," the justice wrote. However, Hennesy wrote, local government entities can craft policies to limit the public exposure of breasts as long as the policies align with the constitution's due process and equal protection principles. Justice Karl Procaccini concurred with Hennesy. Justice Theodora Karin Gaïtas took no part in the opinion.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
With federal environmental law in meltdown, Minnesota needs to step up
"The unprecedented blizzard of terrible ideas coming out of Washington, D.C. to accelerate mining, logging and industrial development by reducing federal environmental standards is almost certain to have significant consequences for our state," the author writes. (Photo by) There's a battle at the Minnesota Legislature this session to defend environmental standards from attacks by industry. A bipartisan group of Minnesota legislators recently attempted to repeal the environmental rules that protect wild rice and prohibit mine waste from polluting water by rushing a bill through a committee that has nothing to do with the environment. Then again, on Earth Day, another attempt was made to repeal these rules. But what was so breathtakingly cynical, so beyond the pale, was that both times legislators tried to sneak these significant environmental rollbacks through by attaching them to a critical extension of unemployment insurance for laid off mine workers. This episode epitomizes how low some will go to advance their agenda, as well as the choice facing our Legislature this session: either defend Minnesota from polluters, or join in the push to give them what they want. Minnesota legislators need to know that reducing state environmental standards — especially in this perilous national moment — is a red line that nobody should cross. The unprecedented blizzard of terrible ideas coming out of Washington, D.C. to accelerate mining, logging and industrial development by reducing federal environmental standards is almost certain to have significant consequences for our state. Just in the past few weeks, we've seen executive actions to exempt coal burning power plants from regulations; allow mining and logging in and next to the Boundary Waters Wilderness; eliminate clean water standards on PFAS forever chemicals; and slash the federal workforce that enforces U.S. environmental law. It adds up to a staggering giveaway to corporations and billionaires that will harm Minnesota's clean air, clean water and public health. One of the strongest defenses we have against these reckless federal rollbacks is our suite of state environmental laws, often described by industry lobbyists as among 'the strongest environmental standards' in the nation. When it suits them, they point to those standards as the reason we should locate polluting industries in MInnesota, because surely they will protect our environment, they argue. 'Trust the process,' they say. But their brazen attacks on these standards — through legislative gimmicks with little to no public involvement — reveal their true aim: to advance industrial proposals, even if it means eliminating protections for clean water. The state mining pollution standards they now want to repeal have been litigated all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which struck down the copper-sulfide PolyMet permit because of them. Millions of public dollars and thousands of hours have gone into creating and defending these critical rules that protect clean water. With Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, this outrageous attempt to gut state environmental standards should shock everybody and compel all Minnesota legislators who claim to care about the environment to double down on that commitment. Mining standards are not the only place they need to hold the line. The same crowd gleefully gutting federal environmental laws across the board in D.C. are engaged in a similar project here in Minnesota, just a bit more quietly. Industrial interests are also attempting to weaken Minnesota's landmark PFAS legislation and 100%clean energy law; repeal our successful solar garden program; and give environmental workarounds and lucrative tax breaks to the billionaire tech companies who want our water and energy for new data centers. The Minnesota Legislature has big decisions ahead that will have a direct impact on people's health now and decades into the future. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, let's encourage Minnesota lawmakers to do the right thing and prioritize clean water, clean air and climate justice over corporate pressure and short-term profits. Our response in the next month is critical. If Minnesota doesn't stand up and defend our state environmental laws, we could lose the places and values that define our state.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICWA is before the Minnesota Supreme Court again. Here's why
Allison HerreraMPR News Two Martin County foster parents are getting another audience in front of the Minnesota Supreme Court Tuesday, after arguing last fall that a nearly 50-year-old law that prevented them from adopting two Native children is unconstitutional. If the couple succeeds in their challenge, it could drastically alter the constitutionality of the law, which is meant to preserve tribal sovereignty and address decades of Native children being severed from their cultures. The twins at the center of this case were initially placed with foster parents until a lower court ruled they should be placed with a relative. The white foster couple, Kellie and Nathan Reyelts of Fairmont, wanted to adopt the children and claim they've been prevented from doing so because of the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, and a state companion law known as the Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act, or MIFPA. They say the law is unfair. The couple says the placement preferences required under the two laws — that the children be placed with an immediate family member or a foster home approved by the tribe — violate their 5th and 14th Amendment rights. The twins were removed from the Reyelts' home after the Red Lake Nation, the tribal nation their mother is from and which they are eligible to become citizens of, said they should be placed with an aunt. The twins are now living with their grandmother and have been since September of 2023. An older sibling also resides with them. Two lower courts already ruled against the Reyelts' claims that the two laws discriminate against them in the adoption process because of their race. Last fall, they took their case to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Before the court ruled, they asked for a second hearing — Tuesday's — to make the same constitutional claims and add two more issues: Did the district court err in denying their motion for permissive intervention, and did the district court err in dismissing their third party custody petition? The constitutional issue being considered again: Are the placement preferences of ICWA and MIFPA unconstitutional? The placement preference is with an immediate family member or a placement preference chosen by the Red Lake Nation. Joseph Plumer, the attorney for the Red Lake Nation, said the reason the plaintiff's attorneys are bringing this case is simple — they want to bring this case before the United States Supreme Court. During last fall's oral arguments, Associate Justice Anne McKeig, herself a descendant of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, directly asked Plumer if he thought it was their intention. 'Counsel, can I ask you a question that's probably going to be controversial, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Does there seem to be some — gamesmanship may not be the right word — but do you see this court as an avenue to try to get the issue of constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act before the United States Supreme Court?' McKeig asked. 'Yes,' Plumer responded. 'That's exactly what the appellants are trying to do in this case.' Shannon Smith, the executive director of the ICWA Law Center, which provides legal services and advocacy to Native families impacted by the child protection system, agrees. 'They are looking, I think, for something that somehow can be distinguishable from the decision in Haaland v. Brackeen,' Smith said. She is referring to the case involving a white Texas couple who had successfully adopted a Navajo child. Their attorneys, including Mark Fiddler, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe and the attorney representing the Reyelts, argued the laws were race-based and unconstitutional. Even though they lost the case, the court found that the petitioners' claims of equal protection lacked standing, which is why the Reyelts can challenge the placement and claim discrimination. Fiddler declined to comment to MPR News. Smith says foster parents are an important part of the system of keeping children safe and providing stability. But, their role is temporary. 'You're temporarily stepping in to care for a child where the intent is for the child to be reunified with a parent or place the relative,' she said.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Yahoo
Woodbury attorney disbarred after being convicted of swindling client
The Minnesota Supreme Court has banned Woodbury attorney Kristi McNeilly from practicing law in the state, three years after she was convicted of theft by swindle for stealing $15,000 from a man who hired her to defend him in a drug case. The high court's opinion, rendered Wednesday, upheld a referee's decision, which found that McNeilly 'committed a criminal act that reflected negatively on her honesty and trustworthiness,' according to the opinion. 'She stole $15,000 from a client by telling the client that the money was needed to bribe government officials to dismiss pending drug charges.' The referee recommended McNeilly, who waived her right to an evidentiary hearing, be disbarred, and the court agreed. 'Misappropriation of client funds 'is a breach of trust that reflects poorly on the entire legal profession and erodes the public's confidence in lawyers,'' the opinion states. She also was ordered to pay $900 in costs related to the case, the court's opinion said. McNeilly did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. McNeilly, a criminal defense attorney, was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court in 2022 to 180 days in the county workhouse after being convicted of theft-by-swindle two months prior. She also was ordered to pay back the $15,000 to her client. She was hired in May 2018 to represent a 39-year-old Minnetonka man suspected of keeping illegal drugs in his home. The drugs were discovered during a search by the Southwest Hennepin Drug Taskforce, according to the criminal complaint. Although the man was a suspect, Her client was not immediately charged with a crime. In November 2018, McNeilly told her client that she had spoken with the lead investigator and prosecuting attorney in his case, and that it could be resolved if her client made a payment of between $35,000 and $50,000 to a police union. McNeilly's client was able to collect only $15,000, which he handed over to McNeilly. Three days later, her client changed his mind and asked McNeilly for his money back, but McNeilly said she already forwarded it to the police union, according to the complaint. After McNeilly's client hired a new lawyer, police discovered that McNeilly had never been in contact with the lead investigator or the prosecutor, and that she spent a portion of her client's money on mortgage and credit-card payments, the complaint said. Charges: Woodbury HS student had replica gun in backpack, ran from school Forest Lake 'career offender' gets 12½-year prison term for swindling businesses, homeowners Report of student with gun at Woodbury HS leads to search, apprehension 'Like having a bunch of nice friends': Volunteer phone line for positive messages marks 30th year Oakdale celebrates 50 years of Arbor Day tree giveaways The director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility filed a petition for disciplinary action against McNeilly in connection with the case. McNeilly, who was admitted to practice law in Minnesota in 2004, had twice been previously disciplined by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility. She was publicly reprimanded and placed on probation for three years in 2015 and admonished in 2016, the opinion states.
