Minnesota Supreme Court justice vacancy (October 2023)
| Minnesota Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Hudson vacancy |
| Date: October 2, 2023 |
| Status: Seat filled |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: Karl Procaccini |
| Date: August 23, 2023 |
Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D) appointed Karl Procaccini to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Procaccini replaced Justice Natalie Hudson, who ascended to the Chief Justice position on October 2, 2023. Hudson's replacement was Governor Walz's (D) third 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 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
2024
See also: Minnesota Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Minnesota Supreme Court Seat 6
Incumbent Karl Procaccini defeated Matthew Hanson in the general election for Minnesota Supreme Court Seat 6 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Karl Procaccini (Nonpartisan)  | 56.6 | 1,322,180 |
 | Matthew Hanson (Nonpartisan) | 43.0 | 1,003,978 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 8,908 | ||
| Total votes: 2,335,066 | |||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Karl Procaccini and Matthew Hanson advanced from the primary for Minnesota Supreme Court Seat 6.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view Procaccini's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Procaccini in this election.
Partial term
The appointee
- See also: Karl Procaccini
Karl Procaccini earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 2005, a master of law degree from The American University in Cairo in 2007, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2010.[3] Procaccini served as a law clerk for Judge Diana Murphy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in 2010 and 2011 and for Chief Judge Michael J. Davis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in 2011 and 2012. He has also worked in private practice. From 2019 to 2023, Procaccini served as General Counsel to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) and Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan (D). He has also served as an assistant adjunct professor at the William Mitchell College of Law and a visiting assistant and adjunct professor at the St. Thomas School of Law.[3][4]
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 Hudson's ascension, 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 Justice Hudson
- See also: Natalie Hudson
- See also: Minnesota Supreme Court chief justice vacancy (October 2023)
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][6]
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 ‘'Linkedin, “Karl Procaccini," accessed October 3, 2023
- ↑ Minnesota State Bar Association, "Questionnaire for Judicial Candidates in Statewide Contested Races," accessed September 26, 2024
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Minnesota Judicial Branch, "Associate Justice Natalie E. Hudson," accessed June 28, 2021
- ↑ Minnesota Star-Tribune, "Dayton appoints appellate court Judge Natalie E. Hudson to state supreme court," August 18, 2015
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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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