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I have been writing about the lawsuit styled United States v. City of Minneapolis that was filed last week here in federal district court. I covered the press conference announcing the consent decree in “Is it something I didn’t say?” and in four subsequent footnotes (Note 1, Note 2, Note 3, and Note 4).

The case has been given the File No. 25-CV-48. If you are a registered PACER user, you can go to District of Minnesota and look up the docket/filings in the case using that file number.

In a rush to avoid the incoming Trump administration, the parties have moved for court approval of a consent decree to bind the Minneapolis Police Department. The case was originally assigned to Judge Ann Montgomery. When Judge Montgomery recused herself, the case was reassigned to Judge Paul Magnuson. I called Judge Magnuson’s office on Friday to ask if a hearing has been set on the motion for approval of the consent decree. I was told that the hearing has not yet been scheduled.

The parties’ motion for approval of the consent decree would transform it into a court order and tie the hands of the Trump administration. Thus the rush for approval. One of my purposes in reporting on the consent decree and related proceedings here is to draw the attention of the incoming Attorney General to it in the (perhaps futile) event that the motion remains pending on January 20.

Can anything be done by non-parties to the lawsuit in the meantime? Third-parties can move to appear as amici curiae. Assuming such a motion is granted, they can file statements on the consent decree as friends of the court.

One third-party — Communities United Against Police Brutality — has received approval to appear as an amicus curiae. Reviewing the court’s docket in the case on PACER, I have not found any memorandum on the motion for approval of the consent decree filed yet by Communities United Against Police Brutality.

If you think the charges in this case are unwarranted and the terms of the consent decree dangerous to those of us who live in the metropolitan Twin Cities area, you haven’t got a friend (of the court). This is a shout-out for such a friend as well as a shout-out to the incoming Trump administration.