Grant Barry Anderson (born October 24, 1954) is an associate justice of the

Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court wa ...

. He is a former member of the

Minnesota Court of Appeals The Minnesota Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It began operating on November 1, 1983. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over most appeals from the state trial courts, includ ...

Early life and education

Anderson was born on October 24, 1954, and grew up in

Mankato, Minnesota Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Blue Earth, Nicollet County, Minnesota, Nicollet, and Le Sueur County, Minnesota, Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 United States ...

. He is a 1976 graduate of

Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavus gets its nam ...

, receiving a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'', and a 1979 graduate of the

University of Minnesota Law School The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Patent Law ...

, receiving a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

Anderson was a general-practice lawyer first in Fairmont and then in Hutchinson, where he served as city attorney for over a decade. He is certified as a civil trial specialist by the

Minnesota State Bar Association The Minnesota State Bar Association is a voluntary bar association for the state of Minnesota, whose members include lawyers, judges, and other legal practitioners, such as clerks, registrars, and paralegals. The MSBA is one of the oldest state ba ...

and is an experienced trial lawyer, representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of cases.

Career

Anderson’s background includes service as chairman of the Board of Directors of Hutchinson Community Video Network, a local public-access television effort, two terms as President of the Hutchinson Rotary Club and a wide variety of other community activities. More recently he has served as a member of the Minnesota Valley YMCA Community Board of Directors, as a youth athletics coach, and as a national judge of the “We the People” high school civics competition. Anderson is a frequent contributor to continuing legal education efforts and has lectured on the use of expert witnesses and similar topics. He also serves on the Judicial Council, the statewide governing board for the Minnesota Judicial Branch. Anderson served on the

from August 1998 until 2004. He was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court by Governor

Tim Pawlenty Timothy James Pawlenty (; born November 27, 1960) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 39th governor of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Pawlenty served in the Minnesota House o ...

in 2004, beginning October 13, 2004. In 2006, he was elected to a six-year term.

Dean Barkley Dean Malcolm Barkley (born August 31, 1950) is an American attorney and politician who briefly served as a United States Senator from Minnesota from 2002 to 2003 as a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota. The founder and chair of the ...

, who briefly served as a

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from Minnesota in 2002 after the death of

Paul Wellstone Paul David Wellstone (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was an American academic, author, and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1991 until he was killed in a plane crash near Eveleth, Minnesota, in 2002. A me ...

, ran against Anderson in the 2012 election. Anderson won reelection to another six-year term with 58.9% of the vote. Anderson has also served as the moderator of Pioneer PBS's
Your Legislators
for over 20 years.

References

External links

*
Judge Profile: Associate Justice G. Barry Anderson
Minnesota Judicial Branch. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Barry Justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court 1954 births Living people Gustavus Adolphus College alumni University of Minnesota Law School alumni Politicians from Mankato, Minnesota Minnesota Court of Appeals judges People from Fairmont, Minnesota People from Hutchinson, Minnesota 21st-century American judges