Phil Carruthers (born December 8, 1953) is an American judge and former

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

politician and former member and

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...

. He is also the former director of the Civil Division at the Ramsey County Attorney's Office. On September 14, 2011, Governor

Mark Dayton Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1 ...

appointed Carruthers as a judge to the Minnesota Fourth District Court. Carruthers came to Minnesota in 1961 with his parents, who were

Canadian citizens Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in C ...

. He graduated from

St. Anthony Village High School St. Anthony Village High School is a public high school in St. Anthony, Minnesota, St. Anthony Village, Minnesota, United States. School Overview St. Anthony Village High School is ranked 14th within Minnesota, according to US News. Students have ...

and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

before attending 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 ...

. He worked for several years as an attorney before seeking public office. He also served on the

Metropolitan Council The Metropolitan Council, commonly abbreviated Met Council or Metro Council, is the regional governmental agency and metropolitan planning organization in Minnesota serving the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area, accounting for over 55 pe ...

from 1983–1986. He won election to the House in 1986 from

Brooklyn Center Brooklyn Center is a first-ring suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. In 1911, the area became a village formed from parts of Brooklyn Township and Crystal Lake Township. I ...

, representing District 47B, which included portions of

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

. He also maintained a private practice and served as prosecutor for the city of Shorewood during this same time period. While in the House, Carruthers served as chair of the Metropolitan Affairs Subcommittee on Government Structure, the Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Subcommittee on Metro Affairs, the Judiciary Subcommittee on Data Privacy, the Rules and Legislative Administration Committee, and the Rules and Legislative Administration Subcommittee on Administration. In 1993, Carruthers was chosen to be

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

when

Irv Anderson Irvin Neil Anderson (June 18, 1923 – November 17, 2008) was a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1965 to 1983, and again from 1991 to 2007. From International Falls, Anderson entered politics at app ...

became Speaker. He served as majority leader during the next two legislative sessions and became chair of the Rules and Legislative Administration Committee. When Anderson stepped down from the House leadership in 1997, he succeeded him as Speaker. He remained in that position until 1999, when the DFL majority was defeated by the Republican Party, and Steve Sviggum succeeded him as Speaker. He served one more term in the House before retiring in 2001.

References

External links

Dayton appoints former House speaker as judge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carruthers, Phil Minnesota state court judges Speakers of the Minnesota House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives 1953 births Living people University of Minnesota Law School alumni People from Shorewood, Minnesota People from Brooklyn Center, Minnesota