Brian D. Clark of St. Anthony Park took on the mantle of practicing law more than 15 years ago.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, Clark first pursued environmental law, then shifted to handling antitrust business litigation, including helping victims of corporate price fixing.
“My practice was focused on filing class action lawsuits for victims of price-fixing conspiracies in industries from chicken to PVC pipes to local TV advertising,” said Clark, a partner at Minneapolis-based Lockridge Grindal Nauen. “We have recovered well over a billion dollars for victims of price fixing in the past decade.”
But in the last several weeks, Clark’s caseload has taken a sharp turn, handling a flurry of habeas corpus filings in Minnesota. It’s pro bono (or free) legal work that has given Clark the opportunity “to refamiliarize myself with Minnesota’s federal judges and court.”
In mid-February, the Bugle interviewed Clark on his new brush with immigration law. The Q and A has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Bugle: How did you get involved in handling immigration law?
Clark: When I heard in early January that neighbors, including the aunt of a staff member at my law firm, were being asked to show “identity papers” based on the color of their skin or their accent, I could not sit on the sidelines without using my legal skills to help.
Such identity paper checks struck me personally as strikingly reminiscent of what happened in 1930s Germany. So after that red line was crossed, both I and my firm, Lockridge Grindal Nauen, have been all-in for helping our wrongfully detained neighbors get out of ICE detention.
We have won every case we have filed, as these detentions are unlawful and unconstitutional. Most clients have no criminal records and the law gives the government no authority to detain these neighbors.
We have represented a number of high-profile victims of ICE’s actions, including two women who were detained after ICE shot into their home through a closed door, and a family of four from Hopkins detained after ICE detained the mother on the way to work and used her to lure her husband, first grader and seventh grader out of the safety of their home.
My law firm is also supporting a large collaborative effort among the many immigration nonprofits, the University of Minnesota Law School and private law firms to provide habeas counsel to any neighbor who needs it free of charge.
Bugle: What is habeas corpus litigation?
Clark: Habeas corpus is an ancient doctrine written into the Constitution. It allows anyone in the United States to ask a federal judge to force the government to explain why a person is detained.
We have filed over a dozen such cases to date for over 20 people, with more filed each day.
We typically file the case within hours of obtaining the key facts we need about the client (always from family members or friends, as the client is not available to talk to us). Then the courts usually issue what’s called an “order to show cause” to the government, requiring the government to explain the legal basis for detaining the client.
We seek to file our response typically within a few hours, and the courts rule very quickly to release our clients from detention and return them to Minnesota if they have been flown out to Texas or New Mexico. One such order from the court recently was issued at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night.
Bugle: What is rewarding about handling these cases?
Clark: These are all pro bono (no charge) legal services. Helping a neighbor who is wrongfully detained obtain their freedom is the most important thing I have done with my law degree.
Attorneys take an oath to uphold the Constitution when they are sworn into the Bar. When the rule of law is repeatedly violated as it has been with these mass detentions in Minnesota, it is our obligation to step up and defend our neighbors using our legal skills. It’s my privilege to apply the privileges a law degree affords me to help.
Bugle: What impact are these immigration cases having on our local community?
Clark: Everyone in SAP, and Minnesota, has their own way, own skills, and own lane to help our neighbors in these dark times — whether its bringing those who can’t leave their house groceries, driving someone to work, providing safe shelter for someone, or even just smiling at a stranger to tell them you see them in these dark times.
I’m glad to live in a neighborhood where there is such love turned into action on behalf of our neighbors. While it is a dark time for the rule of law that deeply concerns me, the actions each of us take are important points of light to see through the dark to a better time.”
Scott Carlson is managing editor of the Park Bugle.