Minnesota

A federal judge has ruled that Minnesota's civil-confinement program for sex offenders violates the constitution, The Star Tribune's Chris Serres reports. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank opined the civil-commitment program "'is a punitive system that segregates and indefinitely detains a class of potentially dangerous individuals without [legal] safeguards.'"

One issue is that there are no periodic assessments to determine whether offenders are dangerous enough to be confined, Serres reports.

More than 700 men have been locked up after serving their prison terms. Minnesota civilly commits more sex offenders per capita than any other state, Serres reports.

David Schultz, writing on MinnPost, argues that Minnesota's system for selecting judges needs to be changed. While judges are supposed to be elected, "studies have shown that approximately 90 percent of all individuals who become a judge in Minnesota do so initially by gubernatorial appointment, thereby circumventing the election process." Secondly, judicial candidates rarely face contested elections, and "more than a quarter of Minnesotans opt not to vote for judges, or simply vote based on familiar-sounding names that are Nordic." Third, judicial candidates, who rely on donations from lawyers for their campaigns, are going to be even more awash in contributions after court decisions invalidating restrictions on fundraising. Schultz suggests an appointed system, including fixed judicial terms or limitations on the selection of judges by the governor.

Minnesota lawmakers are mulling whether to legislate drones, including restricting the use of drones by law enforcement, the Associated Press' Kyle Potter reports: "Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union ... and several lawmakers suggested a handful of protections like requiring a search warrant before any drone flight, imposing limits for how long agencies can keep images and requiring law enforcement to get local government approval before buying a drone."