# Minnesota Department of Human Rights *State agency that enforces the Minnesota Human Rights Act and that brought the state's civil-rights case against the City of Minneapolis and its police department.* The Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) is the [[Minnesota]] state agency responsible for investigating violations of the state's human rights laws and for public education about those laws.[^1][^2] It was created in 1967 to replace a commission the Legislature had established in 1955. It enforces the [[Minnesota Human Rights Act]], enacted in 1973 and now codified, after renumbering and amendment, as Chapter 363A of Minnesota Statutes.[^3][^4] MDHR brought the state's pattern-or-practice case against the [[City of Minneapolis]] and the [[Minneapolis Police Department]] (MPD). According to the agency's investigation report, it filed a charge on June 1, 2020, and on April 27, 2022 it found probable cause of a pattern or practice of race discrimination under the Act.[^5][^6] The resulting court-enforceable settlement agreement, [[Minnesota Department of Human Rights v. City of Minneapolis (court-enforceable settlement agreement)]], was filed in Hennepin County District Court on July 13, 2023 as docket 27-CV-23-4177. As of the record it remains open, and ELEFA has served as [[independent evaluator]] since March 18, 2024.[^7][^8] The United States also entered a federal [[consent decree]] with the city, and that case was dismissed with prejudice on May 27, 2025. Judge [[Paul A. Magnuson]] called the decree "superfluous" in light of the City's existing settlement with MDHR, under which the reforms continue.[^9] In January 2026 the [[United States Department of Justice]] announced a separate lawsuit in a release titled with the phrase "Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime".[^10] ## History In 1955 the [[Minnesota Legislature]] set up the department's predecessor, the State Commission Against Discrimination. The commission was charged with protecting residents' rights and providing services to them. Wikipedia's account ties its creation to a legislative amendment that added a housing provision to the fair employment practices act.[^3][^4] The department took over from the commission in 1967. Wikipedia's account attributes the change to new federal civil rights statutes, which led the state to want an official body of its own to handle violations. The state enacted the Human Rights Act in 1973 and gave the department responsibility for enforcing it.[^3][^4] MNopedia, the encyclopedia published by the [[Minnesota Historical Society]], gives an account of events at the Minnesota State Prison at [[Stillwater]] in 1969. Staff placed nine prisoners in solitary confinement, stripped them, fired tear gas and left them in their cells for six days. MNopedia records that the Department of Human Rights sued, and that a 1970 court decision limited the department's oversight authority.[^11] ## Minnesota Human Rights Act Wikipedia's account describes the state's anti-discrimination law as more comprehensive than its federal counterpart.[^12] The Act lists thirteen protected classes: race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, familial status, disability, public assistance, age, sexual orientation, and local human rights activity. It bars discrimination on those grounds in business, credit, education, employment, housing, public accommodations and public services.[^12] ## Role of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights The department informs Minnesotans about the Act. It invites anyone who has faced discrimination, or believes they have, to bring a complaint to its investigators. Its headquarters is in Saint Paul. Because of demand, it also stations an investigator in [[St. Cloud]].[^1][^13] One documented output in that region was reported by Bring Me The News. On July 14, 2022, MDHR announced a settlement and finding that a St. Cloud printing company had permitted a racially hostile work environment against a Black employee and his son during 2018–2019. The finding included the use of racial slurs and management's dismissal of complaints. The settlement carried two years of MDHR compliance monitoring.[^14] ## Organization The agency is led by a commissioner and a deputy commissioner, who supervise its communications staff, its legal staff and its investigators. The commissioner is required to hold a law degree and to have experience with civil rights law.[^15] ## Local Minnesota Human Rights Commissions Close to fifty Minnesota cities and towns maintain local human rights commissions. Their members may include volunteers, council members, clergy or other local figures. Some of these commissions work with an investigator who is employed by the department in Saint Paul but posted to their community.[^16] ## Minneapolis Police Department investigation MDHR's investigation report dates the charge against the City and MPD to June 1, 2020. The project's Time Table, citing the agency's press-release index, dates the charge to July 2020 and describes the 2023 outcome as a consent decree rather than a settlement agreement.[^5][^17] The agency maintains a public page for the investigation.[^6] On April 27, 2022, the department found "probable cause that the City and MPD engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act."[^5] The report states the following findings:[^18] - 13 of the 14 people killed by MPD officers since 2010 were people of color or Indigenous. - Black residents made up 19% of the city's population. - Black residents accounted for 63% of recorded use-of-force incidents from 2010 to 2020. - Black residents accounted for 54% of officer-initiated traffic stops. The counts in the finding begin in 2010. The charge is dated June 1, 2020, and the finding was issued nearly two years after the charge.[^5][^18] The finding was followed by a court-enforceable settlement agreement approved in 2023.[^7] The case was filed in Hennepin County District Court on July 13, 2023, as docket 27-CV-23-4177. It rests on the Minnesota Human Rights Act and on the April 27, 2022 probable-cause finding. The matter ends only on a judicial finding of full, effective and sustained compliance, and ELEFA has been the independent evaluator since March 18, 2024.[^7][^8] ## Federal proceedings The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division issued its own findings report on the City of Minneapolis and MPD in June 2023.[^19] The federal case is [[United States v. City of Minneapolis, 0:25-cv-00048]] (D. Minn.). Its sequence ran as follows:[^9][^19] - January 6, 2025: a consent decree was filed in the case and approved by the city. - May 21, 2025: the Justice Department moved to dismiss. - May 27, 2025: Judge Magnuson dismissed the case with prejudice and denied the joint motion to approve the decree as moot. In dismissing the case, Magnuson questioned whether the suit presented a case or controversy. He called the decree "superfluous" given the City's existing settlement with MDHR.[^9] In the record, the state finding (April 2022) and the state agreement (July 2023) came before the federal decree (January 2025). The state agreement remained open after the federal case was dismissed (May 2025).[^5][^8][^9] On January 14, 2026, the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs issued release No. 26-21. The release is titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*, and Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance.[^10] The record compiled here does not carry that suit's docket, its current status, or any role MDHR has in it. The project's catalogue of U.S.-government "regime" usages finds no other U.S. state so described.[^10] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue item [[At issue 026 - The Minnesota Department of Human Rights found in]] treats the April 2022 finding of 13 of 14 deaths as a state agency finding under the state's own Human Rights Act that "survived the federal retraction".[^18] The item pairs the finding with a March 2025 White House presidential action.[^20] The record does not identify which federal instrument was retracted.[^20] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - MDHR is the state party to the settlement with the City of Minneapolis, which carries an ELEFA monitor.[^8] ### What - Reforms at MPD continue under the state settlement.[^9] ### When - Charge filed: June 1, 2020, according to the agency's report. The Time Table gives July 2020.[^5][^17] - Probable-cause finding: April 27, 2022.[^5] - Settlement case filed: July 13, 2023.[^8] - ELEFA independent evaluator in place: since March 18, 2024.[^7] ### Why - Judge Magnuson called the federal decree "superfluous" given the City's existing settlement with MDHR.[^9] ### How - The state settlement terminates only on a judicial finding of full, effective and sustained compliance.[^8] ### How many - 13 of 14 people killed by MPD officers since 2010 were people of color or Indigenous.[^18] - Black residents were 19% of the population and 63% of recorded use-of-force incidents from 2010 to 2020.[^18] ## See also - [[United States v. City of Minneapolis (MPD consent decree)]] - [[Minnesota Human Rights Act]] - [[Minneapolis Police Department]] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights* (institutional homepage, n.d.) — the agency and its public civil-rights enforcement role. https://mn.gov/mdhr/ [^2]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights* (rev. 1334294724, retrieved Oct. 26, 2026) — lead: investigative and educational mandate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Department_of_Human_Rights [^3]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights — History* (n.d.) — the agency's own account of its history and predecessor. https://mn.gov/mdhr/about/agency-history/ [^4]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights* (rev. 1334294724) — History section: 1955 State Commission Against Discrimination; 1967 founding; 1973 Act; codification as Chapter 363A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Department_of_Human_Rights [^5]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department* (Apr. 27, 2022) — charge filed June 1, 2020; probable-cause finding of a pattern or practice of race discrimination. https://mn.gov/mdhr/assets/Investigation%20into%20the%20City%20of%20Minneapolis%20and%20the%20Minneapolis%20Police%20Department_tcm1061-526417.pdf [^6]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Civil Rights Investigation into Minneapolis Police Department* (n.d.) — the agency's page for the MPD investigation. https://mn.gov/mdhr/news-community/newsroom/civilrightsupdates.jsp?id=1061-434480 [^7]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights* (homepage, primary record for docket 27-CV-23-4177, n.d.) — court-enforceable settlement agreement approved in 2023; ELEFA independent evaluator since March 18, 2024. https://mn.gov/mdhr/ [^8]: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, *Case 18178* (n.d.) — *Minnesota Department of Human Rights v. City of Minneapolis*, docket 27-CV-23-4177, Hennepin County District Court, filed July 13, 2023; open until a judicial finding of full, effective and sustained compliance. https://clearinghouse.net/case/18178/ [^9]: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, *Case 18178* (n.d.), as cited in the project's merged master, entry [44] — *United States v. City of Minneapolis*, 0:25-cv-00048 (D. Minn.): decree filed Jan. 6, 2025; dismissal motion May 21, 2025; dismissal with prejudice May 27, 2025; decree called "superfluous"; reforms continue under the state settlement. https://clearinghouse.net/case/18178/ [^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*, release No. 26-21 (Jan. 14, 2026) — release title; Attorney General Bondi's certification of general public importance. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime [^11]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Minnesota State Prison, Stillwater* (MNopedia, n.d.) — 1969 treatment of nine prisoners; MDHR suit; 1970 decision limiting the department's oversight authority. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/place/minnesota-state-prison-stillwater [^12]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights* (rev. 1334294724) — Minnesota Human Rights Act section: thirteen protected classes and covered areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Department_of_Human_Rights [^13]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights* (rev. 1334294724) — Role section: public education, complaints, Saint Paul office, St. Cloud investigator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Department_of_Human_Rights [^14]: Bring Me The News, *news report on MDHR settlement with a St. Cloud company* (July 2022) — July 14, 2022 settlement and finding; 2018–2019 hostile work environment; two years of compliance monitoring. https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/state-settles-with-st-cloud-company-over-racist-work-environment [^15]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights* (rev. 1334294724) — Organization section: commissioner, deputy, staff; commissioner qualifications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Department_of_Human_Rights [^16]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota Department of Human Rights* (rev. 1334294724) — Local commissions section. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Department_of_Human_Rights [^17]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Press releases* (index, n.d.), as cited in the project's Time Table row TL-0890 — charge dated July 2020; 2023 outcome described as a consent decree. https://mn.gov/mdhr/news-community/press-releases/ [^18]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department* (Apr. 27, 2022) — findings: 13 of 14 people killed by MPD officers since 2010 were people of color or Indigenous; 19% population, 63% of recorded use of force 2010–2020, 54% of officer-initiated stops. https://mn.gov/mdhr/assets/Investigation%20into%20the%20City%20of%20Minneapolis%20and%20the%20Minneapolis%20Police%20Department_tcm1061-526417.pdf [^19]: U.S. Department of Justice, *justice.gov* (n.d.), as cited in the project's dossier notes — Civil Rights Division findings report on the City and MPD (June 2023); consent decree filed January 2025; dismissal moved May 2025. https://www.justice.gov/ [^20]: The White House, *Presidential action* (Mar. 2025) — the federal instrument paired with the MDHR finding in at-issue item 026. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/