Minnesota Supreme Court is strengthened by diversity

A judicial branch of government in which every Minnesotan, regardless of gender or race, can see himself or herself reflected. A judiciary — and a legal profession — that knows no “glass ceiling” of gender or racial limitation.

Those goals are just as desirable today as they were in January 1991, when the late Gov. Rudy Perpich made history on his last day in office by giving Minnesota the nation’s first female majority on its state Supreme Court. The court’s 4-3 female-male split lasted until the retirement of Perpich’s first high-court appointee, Rosalie Wahl, in 1994.

It’s about to return. Gov. Mark Dayton announced Tuesday that Fourth District Judge Anne McKeig would succeed Associate Justice Christopher Dietzen when he retires in August. McKeig will join Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea and Associate Justices Natalie Hudson and Margaret Chutich to again give the court a 4-3 female majority.

http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-supreme-court-is-strengthened-by-diversity/384768901/