Paul Arthur Magnuson (born February 9, 1937) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Minnesota The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapoli ...

Early life and education

Paul A. Magnuson was born and raised on a farm near

Carthage, South Dakota Carthage is a city in Miner County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 127 at the 2020 census. History Carthage was platted in 1883. It was named after Carthage, New York. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, t ...

. He is the product of a one-room schoolhouse and graduated in a class of 13 from high school. Magnuson received his Bachelor of Arts degree in (1959) from

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 ...

where he was active in athletics and student government, having served as Class President and Student Body President. He received his Juris Doctor (1963) from

William Mitchell College of Law William Mitchell College of Law was a private, independent law school located in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, from 1956 to 2015. Accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), it offered full- and part-time legal education in pursuit of ...

(again Class President) where he attended night law school while employed as assistant registrar, casualty claim adjuster, and law clerk.

Career

Attorney and lecturer

Magnuson served as a private practicing attorney for 18 years in the firm of Levander, Gillen Miller and Magnuson, South Saint Paul, Minnesota, where his endeavors emphasized eminent domain and municipal law. Magnuson served as a lecturer at

and

Hamline University School of Law Hamline University School of Law was a private law school affiliated with Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The School of Law was founded in 1972 as the Midwestern School of Law by a group of legal professionals. In 1976, Midwestern ...

from 1982 to 1989. From 1986 to 1991, Magnuson also served as Jurist in Residence at a number of undergraduate college liberal arts campuses in Minnesota. In 2010, Magnuson was a Fulbright Scholar at United International College, Zhuhai, China.

Federal judicial service

Magnuson was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and, upon confirmation, entered judicial service on November 16, 1981. During his judicial career, Magnuson has served on the Judicial Conference of the United States as a Member and Chair of the Bankruptcy Committee, and International Judicial Relations Committee, and a member of the Inter-Circuit Assignment Committee. He also served the

Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of respo ...

as a Member of the District Judges Education Committee. Magnuson was also a longtime member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Judges Association, where he held numerous executive offices. In addition, Magnuson has traveled to some 50 countries where he has encouraged the development of independent, ethical judiciaries in emerging democracies. This work has primarily been in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Asia, and Africa. Magnuson served as Chief Judge from 1994 to 2001. In 2002, he assumed senior status where he continues to carry an active case load. In 2009, Magnuson presided over a wrongful death civil suit over the

killing of Fong Lee On July 22, 2006, Minneapolis Police Department officer Jason Andersen shot Fong Lee—a 19-year-old Hmong American man—eight times while pursuing him for arrest, killing him at the scene. The police pursuit and shooting occurred near Cityvie ...

by a Minneapolis police officer. In the early 2020s, he presided over the federal civil rights cases of the four Minneapolis police officers—

Derek Chauvin Derek Michael Chauvin ( ; born March 19, 1976) is an American former police officer who was convicted for the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chauvin was a member of the Minneapolis Police ...

, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane—for the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magnuson, Paul Arthur 1937 births Living people Gustavus Adolphus College alumni William Mitchell College of Law alumni Minnesota lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota People from Miner County, South Dakota People from South St. Paul, Minnesota United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges