Amy Bergquist
Amy Bergquist coordinates advocacy at the UN and with regional human rights bodies. Focus areas include LGBTQI+ rights, discrimination based on sexual orientation/gender identity, rights of minorities and non-citizens, and the death penalty. She collaborates with diaspora communities seeking to be more effective advocates for human rights in their countries of origin. She coordinates pro bono legal assistance to support non-governmental organizations based in Africa working on human rights and rule of law issues. She represents The Advocates on the Steering Committee of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
Bergquist is a commissioner on the Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights. She previously served as a member of the Minnesota Judicial Branch’s Committee for Equality and Justice and on the University of Minnesota Law School’s board of advisors.
Bergquist clerked for the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Honorable William A. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Honorable John R. Tunheim, District Judge of the District of Minnesota. She was an associate at Faegre & Benson, LLP. Before attending law school, Amy worked for 11 years at Minneapolis South High School, where she taught social studies and Russian and coached debate and speech.
Bergquist received her law degree summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2007. She graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with a degree in political science. She is admitted to practice before Minnesota state and federal courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Publications
Diaspora Speaks for Deliberately Silenced Oromos: Ethiopian Government Responds to UN Review, The Advocates Post, May 20, 2014
"Little Oromia" Unites to Advocate for Justice and Human Rights in Ethiopia, The Advocates Post, May 8, 2014
Ethiopian Government Faces Grilling at UN, The Advocates Post, May 6, 2014
Oromo Diaspora Mobilizes to Shine Spotlight on Student Protests in Ethiopia, The Advocates Post, May 5, 2014
Lives on the Line: Will Supreme Court Hold U.S. Accountable for the Death Penalty? The Advocates Post, Apr. 3, 2014
Live from Geneva! It's Crunch Time for the UN's Examination of the U.S. Human Rights Record, The Advocates Post, March 10, 2014
Moving Forward: Four Steps and Six Strategies for Promoting LGBTI Rights Around the World, The Advocates Post, Feb. 25, 2014
The Wild East: Vigilante Violence against LGBTI Russians, The Advocates Post, Feb. 21, 2014
Locking the Iron Closet: Russia's Propaganda Law Isolates Vulnerable LGBTI Youth, The Advocates Post, Feb. 20, 2014
Russia's "Gay Propaganda" Law: How U.S. Extremists are Fueling the Fight Against LGBTI Rights, The Advocates Post, Feb. 18, 2014
Out in the Cold: LGBT Visibility at Olympics Key to Ending Homophobia, The Advocates Post, Feb. 14, 2014
The Advocates for Human Rights, Paving Pathways for Justice & Accountability: Human Rights Tools for Diaspora Communities, Jan. 2014
"Look at the details of Eric Ohena Lembembe's life and you will understand why he died," The Advocates Post, Sept. 23, 2013
Letter from Liberia, The Advocates Post, Feb. 13, 2013
Voter ID: Like Pulling on a Thread, Commentary, Star Tribune, Oct. 25, 2012
Voter Restriction: More Than Meets the Eye, The Advocates Post, Aug. 31, 2012
This Man Shouldn't Get the Last Word on Gay Marriage, Commentary, Star Tribune, Aug. 22, 2012
Justice Delayed May Be Justice Denied for Minnesota Cambodians, MinnPost, Mar. 27, 2012. Written by Jennifer Prestholdt and Amy Bergquist
"Minnesota chapter of A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions" (Marcy Hogan Greer, ed. 2010). Written by James A. O'Neal and Amy Bergquist
"The Contours of National Origin Discrimination Under Federal Law," in National Employment Lawyers Association 18th Annual Convention Manual (June 2007). Written by Lisa Stratton and Amy Bergquist
"Methods of the War on Terror," 16 Minnesota Journal of International Law 371 (2007). Written by David Weissbrodt and Amy Bergquist
"Extraordinary Rendition and the Humanitarian Law of War and Occupation," 47 Virginia Journal of International Law 295 (2007). Written by David Weissbrodt and Amy Bergquist
"Extraordinary Rendition and the Torture Convention," 46 Virginia Journal of International Law 585 (2006). Written by David Weissbrodt and Amy Bergquist
"Extraordinary Rendition: A Human Rights Analysis," 19 Harvard Human Rights Journal 123 (2006). Written by David Weissbrodt and Amy Bergquist
"Pharmacist Refusals: Dispensing (With) Religious Accommodation Under Title VII," 90 Minnesota Law Review 1073 (2006).
News
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Making the Invisible Visible
October 23, 2023 -
What’s it like to be an Advocate for Human Rights? An interview with Amy Bergquist
January 8, 2018
