Minnesota Supreme Court chief justice vacancy (October 2023)
| Minnesota Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Gildea vacancy |
| Date: October 1, 2023 |
| Status: Seat filled |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: Natalie Hudson |
| Date: August 23, 2023 |
Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D) appointed Natalie Hudson to the chief justiceship of the Minnesota Supreme Court. She had previously served as an associate justice of the court from 2015 until her ascension in 2023.
Hudson replaced Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, who retired on October 1, 2023. Gildea's replacement is Governor Walz's (D) second nominee to the seven-member supreme court.
In Minnesota, state supreme court justices are elected in nonpartisan elections. There are 13 states that use this selection method. To read more about the nonpartisan election of judges, click here.
Interim vacancies on the supreme court are filled via gubernatorial appointment. After serving for at least one year, the appointed judge can run for a full term in the next general election.[1] Other candidates may file to run against them in the election.[2]
Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources on the process to fill the Minnesota Supreme Court vacancy:
- An overview of the election.
- An overview of the appointee.
- An overview of the selection process.
- An overview of the court following the vacancy.
- An overview of the justice who left office.
- A list of other state supreme court appointments in 2023.
Full term
Election
See also: Minnesota Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice
Incumbent Natalie E. Hudson defeated Stephen Emery in the general election for Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Natalie E. Hudson (Nonpartisan) | 63.4 | 1,529,063 |
 | Stephen Emery (Nonpartisan) | 36.2 | 872,720 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 9,023 | ||
| Total votes: 2,410,806 | |||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Natalie E. Hudson and Stephen Emery advanced from the primary for Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Hudson in this election.
Partial term
The appointee
- See also: Natalie Hudson
- See also:Minnesota Supreme Court justice vacancy (October 2023)
On August 23, 2023, Governor Tim Walz (D) nominated then-associate justice Natalie Hudson for the chief justice position on the Minnesota Supreme Court. She served as an associate judge on the court from her initial appointment by Governor Mark Dayton (D) on August 18, 2015 until her ascension to chief justice on October 2, 2023.[3][4] Hudson was up for election during the next general election on November 6, 2024.
Hudson received an undergraduate degree from Arizona State University, Tempe, in 1979 and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1982. She was editor-in-chief of the law school's newspaper.[5] Prior to serving on the Minnesota Supreme Court, Hudson was a judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals from 2002 to 2015 and an assistant attorney general with the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General from 1994-2002. She also served as a city attorney for St. Paul from 1994 to 2002, worked as assistant dean of student affairs for Hamline University School of Law from 1992-1994, and as an attorney at Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi from 1989 to 1992.[5][3]
The selection process
- See also: Judicial selection in Minnesota
In Minnesota, state supreme court justices are elected in nonpartisan elections. There are 13 states that use this selection method. To read more about the nonpartisan election of judges, click here.
Makeup of the court
- See also: Minnesota Supreme Court
Justices
Following Gildea's retirement, the Minnesota Supreme Court included the following members:
| ■ Barry Anderson | Appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) in 2004, and elected since | |
| ■ Margaret Chutich | Appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in 2016, and elected since | |
| ■ Gordon Moore | Appointed by Gov. Tim Walz (D) in 2020, and elected since | |
| ■ Paul Thissen | Appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in 2018, and elected since | |
| ■ Anne K. McKeig | Appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in 2016, and elected since |
About the court
Founded in 1858, the Minnesota Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has seven judgeships. The current chief of the court is Natalie Hudson.
About Chief Justice Gildea
- See also: Lorie Gildea
Gildea received her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota at Morris in 1983 and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.[5] Prior to her tenure on the Minnesota Supreme Court, she was a judge for the Minnesota Fourth Judicial District. Before becoming a judge, she worked as an assistant attorney for Hennepin County, associate general counsel for the University of Minnesota, and as an attorney with Arent Fox.
Other state supreme court appointments in 2023
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2023
The following table lists vacancies on state supreme courts that opened in 2023. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2022.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedMNselect - ↑ The Office of the Revisor of Statutes, "Constitution of the State of Minnesota," accessed August 8, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Minnesota Star-Tribune, "Dayton appoints appellate court Judge Natalie E. Hudson to state supreme court," August 18, 2015
- ↑ Minnesota Judicial Branch, "Gov. Walz names Natalie Hudson Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice," accessed October 3, 2023
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Minnesota Judicial Branch, "Associate Justice Natalie E. Hudson," accessed June 28, 2021 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "bio" defined multiple times with different content
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Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Minnesota • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Minnesota
State courts:
Minnesota Supreme Court • Minnesota Court of Appeals • Minnesota District Courts • Minnesota Problem-Solving Courts • Minnesota Tax Court • Minnesota Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
State resources:
Courts in Minnesota • Minnesota judicial elections • Judicial selection in Minnesota
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