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  •  Wilhelmina Wright  •  David Stras  •  David Lillehaug  •
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

The current justices of the court are:

Judge	Term	Appointed by	Party
Justice Alan Page	1993-2016
Chief Justice Lorie Gildea	2006-2018	Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Justice Barry Anderson	2004-2012	Gov. Tim Pawlenty	Republican
Justice Paul Anderson	1994-5/2013
Justice Christopher Dietzen	2008-2016	Tim Pawlenty
Justice Wilhelmina Wright	2012-2014	Gov. Mark Dayton
Justice David Stras	2010-2018	Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Justice David Lillehaug	5/2013-Present	Gov. Mark Dayton	Democratic

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.

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."

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." Judges may also be subjected to a recall election.

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.

Fiscal Year	Direct appeals cases filed	Direct appeals dispositions	Petitions for further review	Total dispositions
2010	98	114	674	67
2009	111	127	778	61
2008	148	126	619	61
2007	132	126	642	82

Salaries

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

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. 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.

2012

See also: Minnesota judicial elections, 2012

Chief justice

To organize the columns, click on the arrows in the column heading.

Candidate	Incumbency	Place	Primary Vote	Election Vote
GriffithDan Griffith	No	Chief Justice	29.4%A	39.59%   D
ClarkJill Clark (Minnesota)	No	Chief Justice	21%
GildeaLorie Gildea   A	Yes	Chief Justice	49.7%A	60.02%   A

Place 1

To organize the columns, click on the arrows in the column heading.

Candidate	Incumbency	Place	Primary Vote	Election Vote
AndersonBarry Anderson   A	Yes	Place 1		58.94%   A
BarkleyDean Barkley	No	Place 1		40.65%   D

Place 4

To organize the columns, click on the arrows in the column heading.

Candidate	Incumbency	Place	Primary Vote	Election Vote
NelsonAlan Nelson	No	Place 4	21.7%
StrasDavid Stras   A	Yes	Place 4	48.8%A	55.95%   A
TingelstadTim Tingelstad	No	Place 4	29.4%A	43.62%   D

2010

See also: 2010 State Supreme Court elections

Incumbent Helen Meyer defeated challenger Greg Wersal.

Minnesota Supreme Court 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Helen Meyer (D)		n/a	58%
Greg Wersal (R)		n/a	n/a

Incumbent Alan Page defeated challenger Tim Tingelstad.

Minnesota Supreme Court 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Alan Page		n/a	63.3%
Tim Tingelstad		n/a	n/a

Christopher Dietzen ran unopposed to retain his seat.

Minnesota Supreme Court 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Christopher Dietzen		n/a	n/a

2008

See also: State Supreme Court elections, 2008

Incumbent Paul H. Anderson defeated challenger Tim Tingelstad.

Minnesota Supreme Court 2008 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Paul H. Anderson		n/a	60.4%
Tim Tingelstad		n/a	39.2%

Incumbent Lorie Skjerven Gildea defeated challenger Deborah Hedlund.

Minnesota Supreme Court 2008 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Lorie Skjerven Gildea		n/a	55%
Deborah Hedlund		n/a	45%