The Minnesota Supreme Court is the

highest court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the

Minnesota State Capitol The Minnesota State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Minnesota, in its capital city of Saint Paul. It houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the office of the Attorney General and the office o ...

or in the nearby

Minnesota Judicial Center The Minnesota Judicial Center, adjacent to the State Capitol, houses the state's Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, as well as the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals and the state law library. Its address is 25 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, J ...

History

The court was first assembled as a three-judge panel in 1849 when Minnesota was still a

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

. The first members were lawyers from outside the region, appointed by President

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

. The court system was rearranged when Minnesota became a state in 1858. Appeals from

Minnesota District Courts The District Court of Minnesota is the state trial court of general jurisdiction in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Jurisdiction of the court The Minnesota Constitution provides that the district court has original jurisdiction in civil and crimin ...

went directly to the Minnesota Supreme Court until 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, inclu ...

, an intermediate

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

, was created in 1983 to handle most of those cases. The court now considers about 900 appeals per year and accepts review in about one in eight cases. Before the Court of Appeals was created, the Minnesota Supreme Court handled about 1,800 cases a year. Certain appeals can go directly to the Supreme Court, such as those involving taxes, first degree murder, and workers' compensation.

Composition

The seven justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court are elected to renewable six-year terms. When a midterm vacancy occurs, the

governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. ...

appoints a replacement to a term that ends after the general election occurring more than one year after the appointment. Most vacancies occur during a term. The most recent election to an open seat on the court was in 1992, when former

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

player

Alan Page Alan Cedric Page (born August 7, 1945) is an American retired judge and former professional football He gained national recognition as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) during 15 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings an ...

was elected. Judges in Minnesota have a mandatory retirement age of 70.

Anne McKeig Anne K. McKeig (born February 9, 1967) is an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. She is its first Native American justice. She was previously a judge of the Minnesota Fourth District Court in Hennepin County from 2008 to 2016. Ea ...

, a descendant of the

White Earth Band of Ojibwe The White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, also called the White Earth Nation ( oj, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg, "People from where there is an abundance of white clay"), is a federally recognized Native American band located ...

, became the first Native American justice in 2016. Her appointment also marked the second time the court had a majority of women since 1991. In May 2020, Governor

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz ( ; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician and retired educator. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019. Born in West Point, Nebraska, Wal ...

announced the appointment of Nobles County District Judge

Gordon Moore Gordon Earle Moore (born January 3, 1929) is an American businessman, engineer, and the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intel Corporation. He is also the original proponent of Moore's law. As of March 2021, Moore's net worth is repor ...

, who replaced retiring Justice

David Lillehaug David Lee Lillehaug (born May 22, 1954) is a former associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He served as the United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota from 1994 to 1998. Early life and education Lillehaug was born in Waverly ...

Salary

The salary for the Supreme Court Chief Justice is $205,362 and $186,692 for associate justices.

Members

Images

File:HistoricMNsupreme.JPG, Minnesota State Capitol Supreme Court chamber File:MNsupreme.JPG, The historic court chamber seen from the side File:MinnesotaJustices150.JPG, Justices portray predecessors on Statehood Day File:MinnesotaJudicialCenter.JPG, The Minnesota Judicial Center

Important cases

* ''

Baker v. Nelson ''Richard John Baker v. Gerald R. Nelson'', 291 Minn. 310, 191 N.W.2d 185 (1971), was a case in which the Minnesota Supreme Court decided that construing a marriage statute to restrict marriage licenses to persons of the opposite sex "does not ...

'', 291 Minn. 310, 191 N.W.2d 185 (1971), in which the Court held that denial of the statutory entitlement demanded by gay citizens to marry the adult of one's choice does not offend the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

; overturned by ''

Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...

'', . * ''Doe v. Gomez'', 27 Minn. 542 N.W.2d 17 (1995), in which the Court held that on-demand

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

in the state is constitutional.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Minnesota state courts State supreme courts of the United States 1858 establishments in Minnesota Courts and tribunals established in 1858 1849 establishments in Minnesota Territory Courts and tribunals established in 1849