Weekend Reformer: Don Lemon challenges the FACE Act

Good morning, Reformers.

Independent journalist Don Lemon is challenging the constitutionality of the FACE Act, the law underlying a federal charge against him stemming from a protest he covered against an immigration official inside Cities Church in St. Paul. 

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and protects people’s right to freely access abortion clinics and places of worship.

The unusual pairing of abortion clinics and houses of worship is the product of unintentional bipartisanship. Lemon’s attorneys are focusing their argument specifically on the provision concerning religious houses of worship, but the case could have unintended consequences on the reproductive health side of the law, according to a UCLA law professor. 

Max Nesterak reported on Lemon’s legal strategy Friday. 

Also from Max: The day prior, Twin Cities independent journalist Georgia Fort filed three motions for dismissal of the same charges without challenging the constitutionality of the FACE Act.

Minnesota’s primary elections are on Tuesday. 

The Reformer went to Farmfest, the state’s premier agricultural expo that doubles as an important political stomping ground where candidates courted the ag bloc in some of their last appearances before the primary. 

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the presumptive DFL nominee for governor, got on stage at Farmfest for the first and last time with the three GOP candidates for governor: businessman Kendall Qualls, House Speaker Lisa Demuth and pillow mogul Mike Lindell. Ria Gupta and I wrote up their responses on some of the key issues raised. 

Max covered the Farmfest forum of the four leading U.S. Senate candidates: Democrats U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and DFL-endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and Republicans Michele Tafoya and Royce White. 

On Jan. 11, Gregory Bovino watched as his Border Patrol agents dragged a man out of his car at a St. Paul Speedway, knelt on his back until he lost consciousness, and dragged his limp body into the back of a van. Madi McVan wrote the story of Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano, whose violent arrest by federal agents still haunts him in Honduras. 

During Operation Metro Surge, ICE arrested at least 75 people who had been granted protections from deportation because they were victims of, or witnesses to, serious crimes, Madi reported. The number, which comes from filed habeas corpus petitions, is likely a significant undercount. 

ICE will pay private prison company CoreCivic more than half a billion dollars to buy the defunct 1,600-bed prison in rural western Minnesota as an immigrant detention center, Madi reported. CoreCivic will operate the facility and get paid $75 million per year to do so. It’ll be the first detention center of its kind in Minnesota. 

The Hemp Planning Predictability Act, introduced in part by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, would delay a ban on THC products derived from hemp plants, which is set to take effect Nov. 11, for one month, Ria Gupta reported. Retailers have said that the upcoming hemp ban would effectively shut down Minnesota’s low-dose THC industry, which produces the beverages and edibles you see at liquor and convenience stores. 

Pillow mogul Mike Lindell, whose campaign for governor was recently endorsed by President Donald Trump, released a 72-page plan to eliminate the state income tax, which would necessitate cutting the state general fund budget in half, Patrick Coolican reported.

Former Reformer reporter Chris Ingraham wrote about Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth, who has spent decades pushing the law to its limits in pursuit of severe penalties for drug users and sellers, and is running unopposed, as he has in every election since 2002.  

Marcus Schmit, the executive director of NAMI Minnesota, reflected on the horrifying news of two middle schoolers dying by suicide in Brainerd recently and what we need to do. 

Todd Blanche — Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer — is set to be confirmed as the attorney general of the United States. Reformer editor Patrick Coolican wrote that Minnesotans should be paying special attention to his confirmation, given his “misplaced priorities and allegiances,” for example when he failed to bring charges against the federal agents responsible for the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis. 

Sarah Piepenburg, the owner of Vinaigrette in Minneapolis, wrote that the state’s new Paid Leave program is helping workers and businesses like hers.

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