Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy lives not only in speeches and commemorations, but in courtrooms where civil rights, economic justice and human dignity are enforced through the rule of law.
In an interview for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder’s Echoes of Unity series, Ellison said his office is using the state’s legal authority to advance what he described as the “fundamental principles” King championed, pursuing fairness through consumer protection, housing enforcement, worker advocacy, police accountability and oversight of technology-driven harms.
Ellison framed unity not as consensus, but as accountability: the idea that systems must work for everyone, and that powerful actors must be held responsible when their choices cause harm.
One recent example, Ellison said, was a settlement reached in December following an investigation into Kia and Hyundai over vehicle vulnerabilities he said contributed to widespread auto thefts. “They were never held accountable until we initiated that effort,” Ellison said, describing the case as a reminder that corporate decisions can impose real economic losses on families.
He also pointed to a major housing enforcement case concluded in October against a private equity firm he identified as Pridium. Tenants, “mostly low-income, people of color,” Ellison said, were living in deteriorating conditions. The settlement returned money to residents, forgave some rent and loans, and required the sale of more than 600 properties. Those homes were purchased by nonprofit housing organizations, he said, creating a path toward stable, affordable housing.
While that case centered on the Twin Cities, Ellison emphasized that enforcement against predatory landlords and manufactured-housing owners has extended statewide. “We’ve done them literally all over the state of Minnesota,” he said.
Ellison described his office as a frequent litigant in civil-rights disputes, particularly since President Donald Trump returned to office. Minnesota, he said, has sued to defend voting rights and civil rights, including the state’s ability to maintain diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; protections for LGBTQ people; and the right of women to make their own reproductive health decisions. In total, Ellison said, his office has filed more than 50 lawsuits.
He cited ongoing litigation after the federal government warned Minnesota it could lose emergency management funding unless it required state law enforcement officers to act as federal immigration agents. Minnesota refused, Ellison said, and “we went to court over it.”
On policing and public trust, Ellison pointed to prosecutions handled by his office, including the case stemming from George Floyd’s death. “Our office prosecuted people who murdered George Floyd,” Ellison said, adding that it was not an isolated instance. He cited the prosecution of former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter and other cases as part of a broader commitment to law enforcement accountability.
Ellison also connected his work to King’s emphasis on labor rights, noting that King viewed labor justice as civil rights and was supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis when he was assassinated. In Minnesota, Ellison said, that legacy continues through worker-rights litigation, including an amicus filing after Trump fired National Labor Relations Board Chair Gwynne Wilcox.
Beyond litigation, Ellison said his office works to expand access to justice across Minnesota. The Attorney General’s Office receives more than 80,000 calls each year, he said, responding with actions that range from letters to lawsuits. Staff conduct about 40 community meetings annually and host expungement clinics to help Minnesotans remove barriers to housing and employment. Ellison urged residents seeking legal help to call 651-296-3353.
Ellison also outlined a civil-rights agenda for the digital age, citing consumer privacy, data security and algorithmic decision-making. Minnesota is suing Meta, he said, over an algorithm he described as addictive to children. He also referenced enforcement actions following major data breaches at companies including Equifax and Target, as well as antitrust cases involving algorithm-driven market behavior, including matters he identified as Agri Stats and Rent-A-Page.
Asked what outcomes he hopes to achieve in the next two years that would reflect King’s moral and legal legacy, Ellison said the goal is simple but urgent: help Minnesotans “afford their lives.”
He argued that racism often operates through the economy: shaping who gets housing, who gets paid fairly, and who bears the cost of exploitation. “Racism blows through the economy,” Ellison said, describing scenarios in which housing is suddenly unavailable once a “brown face” appears. He pointed to wage-theft enforcement, actions against predatory landlords, antitrust cases protecting small businesses, and investigations into for-profit colleges he said disproportionately recruit students of color and leave them burdened with debt.
The throughline, Ellison said, is making legal rights real, and ensuring that those most vulnerable are not left to absorb the costs of injustice alone.
“We don’t write laws. We enforce laws that already exist,” Ellison said, noting that the attorney general’s leverage is “generally a lawsuit or the threat of one.”
For Ellison, that work is constant. “No day goes by that we’re not fighting for the fundamental principles of MLK,” he said. “Civil rights. Human rights. The rule of law. Due process.”
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Scott Selmer welcomes reader responses at sselmer@spokesman-recorder.com.