MinnLawyer Blog

SCOTUSblog has an extensive write-up on non-surprise Supreme Court pick Elena Kagan, “including (of course) various criticisms raised about her, including with respect to her views on the military (supposedly too liberal) and executive power (supposedly too conservative), as well as the prospect that she will be required to recuse from a substantial number of [...]

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The Minnesota Supreme Court’s ruling on the absentee-ballot issue takes Minnesota nice to a new extreme. Rejected absentee ballots will be counted only if the county canvassing boards and both candidates all agree that the ballot was wrongfully rejected. Now I may be going way out on a limb here, but in an election where [...]

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The Minnesota Supreme Court has issued a 35-page per curiam opinion in the case of Clark v. Pawlenty, Jill Clark’s challenge to the election procedures governing the upcoming Supreme Court race. Clark is challenging incumbent Lorie Gildea, along with Hennepin County District Court Judge Deborah Hedlund and attorney Richard Gallo. The court –actually a specially [...]

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It took a few tries, but the court has assembled a panel to hear arguments in a petition filed by Jill Clark, who is running for office against Justice Lorie Gildea. Clark wants to remove Gildea’s name from the ballot or at least remove the incumbent designation. The court has naturally recused itself and last [...]

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A panel of five retired Supreme Court justices was appointed today, Aug. 21, to hear a petition by judicial candidate Jill Clark seeking to remove Justice Lorie Gildea from the Sept. 9 primary election ballot. Clark also seeks to strike the statutorily authorized language from the primary ballot identifying Gildea as an incumbent. The members [...]

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Tim Tingelstad, a magistrate in the 9th Judicial District, has filed to run against Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson in the upcoming judicial election. Tinglestad is the second challenger in the race. As we reported earlier, Maplewood attorney Alan Lawrence Nelson has also declared himself a candidate for Anderson’s seat. In cases such as [...]

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The Minnesota Supreme Court recently amended a new CLE rule allowing credits for pro bono work. The changes were made in response to criticism that original version of the rule was not inclusive enough. The CLE rule — which took effect on July 1 — allows attorneys to accrue one CLE credit for every six [...]

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State of the Judiciary addresses delivered by chief justices at the Minnesota State Bar Association’s annual meeting are typically fairly vanilla affairs. The formula usually goes something like this: – Thanks for having me;– [insert joke and/or self-deprecating, yet heartwarming tale here];– Independence of the judiciary is important;– Court funding is inadequate;– Access to the [...]

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For those of you planning your Sesquicentennial activities, we received the following release from the courts today. We promise it didn’t come pony express … Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice Lorie Gildea (right) will portray Minnesota’s first chief justice, Lafayette Emmett this Sunday, May 11, 2008, as part of a Minnesota Sesquicentennial wagon train drive [...]

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It’s hard to complain about getting so eminent a lawyer as Eric Magnuson as the new chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. My lone beef — which I also expressed at the last high court appointment — is that we have lost yet another opportunity to add diversity to the court. The seven member [...]

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