Justice-Denied · Editorial cartoons
Cartoon 7 of 26
Not Open Yet
Satire. Dialogue is imagined; the underlying rulings and records are linked below.
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Panel 1: MINNESOTA • 2022
A paper labeled MILLER’S ORDER stands at a courthouse desk beneath a MINNESOTA seal.
Miller’s order: Bring me Hutchins.
Panel 2: NEW YORK • 1845
A casebook labeled HUTCHINS / NEW YORK / 1845 carries a suitcase toward a doorway marked TO MINNESOTA with a right-pointing arrow. A wall sign reads NEW YORK.
Hutchins book: Off to Minnesota!
Panel 3: STATE OF MINNESOTA
The HUTCHINS / NEW YORK / 1845 book faces a closed STATE OF MINNESOTA door. Its sign reads STATEHOOD: OPENS 1858, and the calendar reads 1845.
Panel 4: THIRTEEN YEARS EARLY
The HUTCHINS / NEW YORK / 1845 book points toward the STATEHOOD: OPENS 1858 sign beside the closed STATE OF MINNESOTA door. MILLER’S ORDER stands beside it; the calendar still reads 1845.
Hutchins book: Your authority is ready. Your state isn’t.
Artwork caption: Imagined scene and dialogue. Sources on the cartoon page.
Behind the cartoon
In December 2022, Judge Miller cited Hutchins, an 1845 New York case, while discussing civil conspiracy and a requested discovery extension. Minnesota did not become a state until 1858. The cartoon makes that thirteen-year gap literal: the old authority reaches Minnesota’s statehood door before it opens, carrying a citation older than the state that will use it.
Underlying records
- December 6, 2022 order, Doc. 366 (PDF)Original/PDF p. 51, Section IV(b), first paragraph: Hutchins actual-damage citation alongside Minnesota’s Harding; p. 54 expressly reserves plaintiffs’ motion to extend discovery. Surrounding discussion begins on p. 49.
- Minnesota Secretary of State — Admission of Minnesota into the Union (1858)Paragraph beginning “On May 11, 1858”: congressional admission of Minnesota into the Union and presidential approval on that date.
Miller cited Hutchins’s actual-damage rule while discussing whether to extend discovery, alongside Minnesota’s Harding and later authorities. Page 54 reserves the extension motion. Hutchins dates to 1845; Minnesota entered the Union on May 11, 1858. The cartoon turns that thirteen-year gap into an imagined historical encounter.
More record detail
Stevenson v. Stevenson, 56-CV-20-2928, Doc. 366, December 6, 2022, p. 51, Section IV(b): Hutchins v. Hutchins, 7 Hill 104 (N.Y. 1845), cited for actual damage in the civil-conspiracy analysis; p. 54: discovery-extension motion reserved. Minnesota entered the Union on May 11, 1858, thirteen calendar years after 1845.
