Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's office gave more than $448,000 in taxpayer dollars to a progressive legal nonprofit that helped get a transgender inmate reassigned to a state women's prison, according to the New York Post.
In 2022, Saint-Paul-based Gender Justice filed a sex discrimination complaint against Minnesota's Department of Corrections (DOC) over transgender inmate Christina Lusk's prison conditions.
The Democrat vice presidential nominee's administration paid out $448,904 the following year, a review of public records shared with the Post by taxpayer watchdog OpenTheBooks.com found.
Gender Justice argued that the DOC was discriminating by housing Lusk in a men's prison and blocking access to sex-reassignment surgery.
Prior to being arrested in December 2018 for meth possession, Lusk had reportedly received hormone therapy and pursued sex-reassignment surgery.
Lusk was on conditional release at the time for a 2012 DWI offense and received a five-year prison sentence.
According to the Post, the lawsuit ended in May 2023 when a $495,000 settlement was awarded, with Lusk entitled to $245,903 in cash and Gender Justice to $198,000 in attorney's fees.
As per the conditions of the settlement, Lusk was to be transferred to a women's facility in Shakopee and fully reimbursed pending a medical evaluation and approval from an insurance provider for additional procedures, regardless of whether Lusk had been released.
Lusk was no longer incarcerated and had been placed under supervision as of Jan. 31.
OpenTheBooks told the Post that the case appears to be a sue-and-settle, where public policy is changed through private legal arbitration without the involvement, or approval, of the state legislature.
The Minneapolis-based law firm Robins Kaplan LLP, which worked with Gender Justice on the lawsuit, donated more than $22,000 to Walz's 2022 gubernatorial bid, according to state campaign finance records. It received $51,096 for costs incurred during the legal action.
"In this instance, we have a nonprofit with ties to the administration and a law firm with five figures in donations to the Walz campaign on the same side of the table, across from the Department of Corrections," OpenTheBooks spokesman Christopher Neefus told the Post. "It's a closed circle of interests. By simply following the money in the state checkbook, we were able to paint taxpayers a much more detailed picture of these negotiations."
"What we still need to know is how much of Gender Justice's public funds may be grants to help operations versus legal fees," he added. "The state of Minnesota does not include spending categories or purposes with their line-by-line spending, and they owe the taxpayer lots more sunshine."
Newsmax reached out to Walz's office and Gender Justice for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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