Helen Meyer
Helen M. Meyer was an Associate Justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court. She was appointed to this position by Governor Ventura in June of 2002 and she took office the following August.[1] Her final term would have ended in 2016, but Meyer retired on August 10, 2012.[2]
Approach to the law
Audio of Meyer's judicial philosophy is available here.
Education
Justice Meyer is a 1976 graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in social work. She received her J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law in 1982.[1]
Career
Prior to her appointment, Meyer had been the owner of Meyer and Associates in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, since 1996. Her civil trial practice included mediation and arbitration work. In 1987, she was a founding partner of the Pritzker and Meyer law firm in Minneapolis and prior to that she was an associate attorney with the law firm of Schwebel, Goetz, Sieben and Hanson in Minneapolis.[1][3][4]
Awards, Memberships, and Civic Activities
- Academy of Certified Trial Lawyers
- Minnesota State Bar Association
- Past Board Member, Minnesota State Board of Legal Certification
- Past Board Member, Minnesota Trial Lawyers
- Governor Ventura's Judicial Merit Selection Commission[1]
Elections
2010
- See also: Minnesota judicial elections, 2010
Meyer was re-elected in 2010. She defeated Greg Wersal in the general election, receiving 58 percent of the vote.[5][6]
| Candidate | Incumbent | Election % |  |
|---|---|---|---|
Helen Meyer  |
Yes | 58% | |
| Greg Wersal | No | 41.7% |
Election results are from the Minnesota Secretary of State from 2010 General Election.
2004
Meyer was retained by voters in 2004 after running unopposed.[7]
Political ideology
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Meyer received a campaign finance score of -0.6, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.07 that justices received in Minnesota.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[8]
See also
- News: A locked courtroom still deemed a public trial, July 8, 2012
- News: Governor considers recommendations for Minnesota Supreme Court, August 6, 2012
External links
- Minnesota Judicial Branch website
- Minnesota Judicial Branch, Judge Profile: Associate Justice Helen M. Meyer
- Project Vote Smart, Justice Helen M. Meyer (MN)
- Official Campaign website
- Stop the Drug War.org, "Search and seizure: Minnesota Supreme Court Okays Drug Dog Sniff Outside of Apartment Door," June 1, 2007
- Open Secrets blog, "Minnesota Senate Case Highlights Potential Conflicts for Judges," April 14, 2009
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Official biography of Justice Meyer
- ↑ Minnesota Judicial Branch, "Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice Helen Meyer to Leave High Court," May 10, 2012
- ↑ "Associate Justice Helen Meyer ’83 to speak at Winter Commencement," William Mitchell College of Law, Jan. 8, 2009 (dead link)
- ↑ Justice Meyer's profile on Project Vote Smart
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, Judicial Races Live Unofficial Results (dead link)
- ↑ Associated Press "Would-be chief justice candidate to appeal again," May 13, 2010
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, Unofficial Results General Election
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
