2024 MN State Judicial Races (Final)

2024 MN State Supreme Court

Candidate Comparisons

Judges and the State Supreme Court

Unlike in the federal system where judges are nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and serve life terms (or until they decide to retire), Minnesota judges serve six year terms and are subject to reelection.

The Minnesota court system includes a supreme court (7 justices), an appeals court (19 judges) and 10 district or trial courts (nearly 300 judges). When a vacancy occurs on a court, the Governor appoints a judge to fill that vacancy. Vacancies happen because judges resign, retire, or are nominated to higher courts. Governors choose their candidates from a slate of candidates prepared by the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection, which evaluates potential judges and makes recommendations to the Governor. Judges who are appointed by the Governor run in the first regular election that is at least a year after they begin. This is why most judges run unopposed in the election.

Editorial Note: Candidates marked “Incumbent” on the ballot will be those who were nominated by the Commission on Judicial Selection, appointed by the Governor, and have been serving in the position. Judicial candidates will not have a party label by their name, so you may need to do some research about these candidates. There are many judicial candidates on the ballot, but you may notice that most of them are running unopposed.

MN State Supreme Court

The state supreme court is the state’s court of last resort. On matters of state law, decisions of a state supreme court are considered final and binding on state and US federal courts. Generally, the state supreme court is used for hearing appeals of legal issues and does not hold trials.

	Chief Justice
Candidates	Natalie E. Hudson (Incumbent)	Stephen A. Emery
Background	Began her legal career as a staff attorney with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services representing indigent clients in housing matters Worked in general civil litigation as an associate attorney at Robins, Zelle, Larson & Kaplan Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Hamline University School of Law St. Paul City Attorney Practice before the state appellate courts in the Criminal Appellate Division of the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General Appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2002 Appointed as an associate justice on Minnesota Supreme Court in 2015 Appointed Chief Justice of the State of Minnesota, the first Black woman to lead the Minnesota Judicial Branch Served on the Minnesota State Bar Association, the Minnesota Women Lawyers Advisory Board, and the Minnesota Supreme Court Racial Bias Task Force and Implementation Committee on Multicultural Diversity and Fairness in the Courts Spouse of a former pastor, she has been active with her husband in several local churches	Married for 21 years and has three minor children and two adult children Grew up on grain and livestock farms. Has an Associate of Applied Science degree in Animal Science, a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Agriculture Education with minors in Agronomy and Animal Science, and a Juris Doctor degree and is licensed to practice law. Served as a County Agent (an agriculture consultant and a local leader in a youth leadership organization) Sales Representative selling herbicides for American Cyanamid Medical Representative promoting vaccines, antibiotics, and antihypertensive drugs for Lederle Laboratories. Invested in doing legal analysis and writing
Priorities/Key Issues	Advocates for the interests of all Minnesotans in having fair, accessible courts Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Hennepin County District Judge	Government needs to be decentralized and economic/business activity needs to be decentralized The proper purpose of government is to hold people accountable for their actions, not to control entire industries or allow people to escape responsibility for their misconduct through use of the corporate form
	Associate Justice: Seat 5
	Anne McKeig (Incumbent; unopposed)
Biography	Descendant of the White Earth Nation First American Indian to serve on the Court. Daughter of a construction worker and Indian educator Strong advocate for children State and national leader in developing protocols and programs for child protection and Indian Child Welfare Mother to five children served as Board Chair for Division of Indian Work Member of Governor’s Task Force on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome B.A. from the College of St. Catherine J.D. from Hamline University School of Law
	Associate Justice: Seat 6
Biography	Matthew R. Hanson	Karl Procaccini (Incumbent)
Biography	Practiced law in Minnesota since 2018 M. Hanson Law Worked with Thomson Reuters, Securian Trust Company Former Wealth Management Counsel Associate In 2022, ran for Judge in Scott County (defeated)	Appointed by Governor Tim Walz College degree from Harvard Worked as a history and band teacher in Cairo, Egypt Master's degree in international and comparative law Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude and serving as an editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal Law clerk to two federal judges—Judge Diana E. Murphy of the United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and Chief Judge Michael J. Davis of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota Partner at Minneapolis law firm Greene Espel recognized by the Minnesota State Bar Association for dedication to pro bono work General Counsel in the Office of the Governor and Lt. Governor Taught at both the University of St. Thomas School of Law and William Mitchell College of Law

Note: This information has been compiled from campaign websites by volunteers from Indivisible St. Peter/Greater Mankato. These comparisons are not officially endorsed by any candidate. Where there is no information for a particular category, this does not mean that the candidate does not care about or has not spoken about the issue - it just may not appear on the website. Voters are encouraged to visit candidates’ websites and reach out to campaigns for more information.