Minnesota Supreme Court

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Minnesota Supreme Court
Court information
Justices:	7
Founded:	1858
Location:	Saint Paul ,Minnesota
Judicial selection
Method:	Non-partisan election of judges
Term:	6 years
Active justices
Alan Page  •  Lorie Gildea  •  Barry Anderson  •  Paul Anderson  •  Christopher Dietzen  •  Helen Meyer  •  David Stras  •
Former justices

The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of Minnesota. It consists of seven justices who are elected to the court in non-partisan elections for six-year terms. Two of the seven seats on the court were in electoral contests in 2008. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court's chamber of the Minnesota State Capitol or in the Minnesota Judicial Center.

Justices

Jurisdiction

Certain types of appeals can go directly to the Supreme Court, such as those involving taxes, first degree murder, and workers' compensation.

Judicial selection

Justices are elected in general elections for terms of six years. If a vacancy occurs, the Governor of Minnesota appoints the replacement.^[1]

Qualifications

According to the Minnesota Supreme Court, "Judges of the supreme court, the court of appeals and the district court shall be learned in the law. The qualifications of all other judges and judicial officers shall be prescribed by law."^[2]

Removal of justices

"Minnesota judges may be removed one of two ways: after a public hearing and on the recommendation of the Board on Judicial Standards, the supreme court may censure, retire, or remove a judge, or judges may be impeached by a majority vote of the house of representatives and convicted by a two-thirds vote of the senate."^[3] Judges may also be subjected to a recall election.^[4]

Caseloads

The court considers about 900 appeals per year. Only about 5 percent of those 900 appeals actually are accepted and heard before the court. In 1996 through 1997, a total of 1,785 cases were filed.^[5]

^[6]

Salaries

The Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court makes $160,579 annually, while associate justices make $145,981, as of January 2010.^[7][8]

Notable decisions

History of the court

Interior of the Minnesota Supreme Court courtroom

As a territory, Minnesota held a three-judge panel in 1849. President Zachary Taylor appointed the justices, who were attorneys not from the territory. The court system was reconstructed in 1858 upon statehood.^[9] In 1992, former Minnesota Vikings player and Pro Football Hall of Famer Alan Page was elected to an open seat on the court, he was sworn in January 1993.

Notable firsts

External links

• Minnesota Judicial Branch
• Minnesota Judicial Branch Structure
• Minnesota Lawyer blog
• Judicial Offices of Minnesota

References

Portions of this article have been taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Copyright Notice can be found here.

v • d • e Minnesota Supreme Court
Current	Alan Page  •  Lorie Gildea  •  Barry Anderson  •  Paul Anderson  •  Christopher Dietzen  •  Helen Meyer  •  David Stras  •
Former	Russell Anderson  •  Eric Magnuson  •  Sam Hanson  •  Edward Stringer  •  Esther Tomljanovich  •  Sandy Keith  •  Kathleen Blatz  •