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North Dakota Supreme Court justice vacancy (February 2026)
| North Dakota Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Crothers vacancy |
| Date: February 28, 2026 |
| Status: Retirement scheduled |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: To be determined |
| Date: To be determined |
North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Daniel Crothers is retiring on February 28, 2026. Crothers' replacement will be Governor Armstrong's (R) first nominee to the five-member supreme court.
In North Dakota, 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.
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement with help from a judicial nominating commission. Alternatively, the governor may call a special election to fill the vacancy. Appointed judges are to serve for at least two years, after which they must run in the general election to finish the remainder of the unexpired term.[1] If a justice retires or dies in office, the governor may appoint a justice to the court for two years, when the appointed justice must then run in a nonpartisan election.[2]
Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources on the process to fill the North Dakota Supreme Court vacancy:
- 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 2026.
Appointee candidates and nominations
Ballotpedia will post information on candidates and prospective appointees as information becomes available. If you know of information that should be included here, please email us.
The selection process
- See also: Judicial selection in North Dakota
In North Dakota, 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: North Dakota Supreme Court
Justices
Following Crothers' retirement, the North Dakota Supreme Court included the following members:
| ■ Lisa Fair McEvers | Appointed by Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) in 2014 | |
| ■ Jerod Tufte | Elected in 2016 | |
| ■ Jon Jay Jensen | Appointed by Gov. Doug Burgum (R) in 2017 | |
| ■ Douglas Bahr | Appointed by Gov. Doug Burgum (R) in 2023 |
About the court
Founded in 1889, the North Dakota Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has five judgeships. The current chief of the court is Jon Jay Jensen. In 2018, the court decided 461 cases.[3]
As of January 2023, four judges were appointed by Republican governors, and one judge was elected in nonpartisan elections.
The North Dakota Supreme Court meets in Bismarck, North Dakota.[4]
In North Dakota, 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.
About Justice Crothers
- See also: Daniel Crothers
Crothers received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota in 1979 and his J.D. from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1982.[5] He was a law clerk in the New Mexico Court of Appeals from 1982 to 1983, and was an assistant state attorney for Walsh County, North Dakota, and assistant city attorney for Grafton, North Dakota from 1983 to 1984. Crothers then was an attorney in private practice from 1984 until he became a North Dakota Supreme Court Justice in 2005.[6] Crothers was also the president of the State Bar Association of North Dakota from 2001 to 2002.[5]
Other state supreme court appointments in 2026
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2026
The following table lists vacancies on state supreme courts that opened in 2026. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2025.
| 2026 State Supreme Court Vacancies |
|---|
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: North Dakota," accessed August 16, 2021
- ↑ State of North Dakota, "Supreme Court," accessed September 8, 2022
- ↑ State of North Dakota Courts, "2018 Annual Report North Dakota Court System," accessed September 21, 2019 (page 20)
- ↑ State of North Dakota Courts, "Supreme Court," accessed August 17, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbio - ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Justice Daniel J. Crothers," accessed June 25, 2021
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Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of North Dakota • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of North Dakota
State courts:
North Dakota Supreme Court • North Dakota Court of Appeals • North Dakota District Courts • North Dakota Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in North Dakota • North Dakota judicial elections • Judicial selection in North Dakota
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