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Barry Anderson (Minnesota)
Barry Anderson was a judge for Seat 1 of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He assumed office on October 13, 2004. He left office on May 10, 2024.
Anderson ran for re-election for the Seat 1 judge of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He won in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Anderson was appointed to this court in October 2004 by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) to fill a vacancy on the bench.[1] He subsequently was elected in a nonpartisan election to serve on the court in 2006. To read more about judicial selection in Minnesota, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[2] Anderson received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Anderson resigned from the Minnesota Supreme Court on May 10, 2024. Anderson reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in the state of Minnesota in 2024.[4] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
Biography
Anderson received his undergraduate degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1976 and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1979.[1] Prior to his appointment to the Minnesota Supreme Court, he was a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals from 1998 to 2004. Before he became a judge, he worked as a city attorney in Hutchison, Minnesota, and as a partner at Arnold, Anderson & Dove, PLLP.[1]
Elections
2018
- See also: Minnesota Supreme Court elections, 2018
General election
General election for Minnesota Supreme Court Seat 1
Incumbent Barry Anderson won election in the general election for Minnesota Supreme Court Seat 1 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Barry Anderson (Nonpartisan) | 99.1 | 1,582,996 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.9 | 13,719 | ||
| Total votes: 1,596,715 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
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2012
- See also: Minnesota judicial elections, 2012
Justice Anderson was re-elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court, Seat 1. He defeated challenger Dean Barkley in the general election, winning 58.94 percent of the vote.[5][6]
2006
Anderson was elected to his seat after running unopposed.[7]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Barry
Anderson
Minnesota
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Anderson was a registered Republican prior to 2020. He was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R).
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Anderson received a campaign finance score of 0.96, indicating a conservative ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
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.
Anderson received a campaign finance score of 0.96, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative 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.[10]
State supreme court judicial selection in Minnesota
- See also: Judicial selection in Minnesota
The seven judges of the Minnesota Supreme Court are chosen in nonpartisan general elections to six-year terms. Sitting judges must run for re-election if they wish to serve additional terms. While party affiliation is not designated on the ballot, incumbency is.[11]
Qualifications
Judges of the supreme court are required to be "learned in the law" and under 70 years old. Sitting judges who reach the age of 70 while in office are allowed to serve until the last day of that month.[11]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court is directly chosen by voters in a nonpartisan election. He or she serves in that capacity for a full six-year term.[11]
Vacancies
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.[11] Other candidates may file to run against them in the election.[12]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Minnesota Judicial Branch, "Judge Profile: Associate Justice G. Barry Anderson," accessed June 24, 2021
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Minnesota Post, "Long-tenured Justice Anderson to leave Minnesota Supreme Court in May," January 11, 2024
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Unofficial General Election Results: Judicial," accessed June 24, 2021
- ↑ Minnesota Post, "Former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley files for Minnesota Supreme Court seat," May 30, 2012
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Election Results," accessed June 24, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 4, 2021
- ↑ The Office of the Revisor of Statutes, "Constitution of the State of Minnesota," accessed August 8, 2016
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
