Judicial selection in Minnesota isn’t rigged

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Judges are making headlines every day, ruling on issues that shape our lives. With six current district court vacancies in Minnesota and more anticipated by the end of this year, who sits on the bench matters. Yet many people I have spoken to have no idea about the process behind how these judges are chosen, or worse, they assume the system is rigged.

Like many Minnesotans, I didn’t know much about the judicial selection process beyond unfamiliar names on the flip side of my voters’ ballot who run mostly unopposed. The only times I had ever appeared before a judge was as a litigant during my divorce process. And I wanted to keep it that way. However, I had noticed there was not a single Black judge on the family court bench in Hennepin County at the time of my filing in 2006, and that bothered me.

Then one day, a lawyer told me I should apply to sit on the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection. “The what?” I asked.

She explained how a committee consisting of lay people and attorneys recruit and interview judicial candidates and that my voice would be good to be among them. “Why would they pick me?” I asked. She said, “Why would they not?”

In the six years I have been on the commission as an at-large, non-attorney member, Gov. Tim Walz has appointed 146 judges to all of Minnesota’s courts. They include 117 district court judges appointed to 45 counties in all 10 judicial districts, 11 on the Court of Appeals and five on the Supreme Court, as well as 13 additional appointments across Tax Court and other courts. That’s 41% of the current statewide bench, and his term isn’t over yet.

All of the governor’s district level appointments have been from among candidates recommended by the commission. According to Minnesota law (Mn. Stat. 480B.01), “the committee shall recommend to the governor no fewer than three and no more than five nominees for each judicial vacancy.”

While the statute also says “the governor may select a person to fill the vacancy without regard to the commission’s recommendation,” Walz hasn’t gone that direction.

“The reason that I take who you send forward is because I don’t know these people; rarely is there someone in there I know,” he told me via a video call on a recent snowy day.

Voters have the final say, however. In even-numbered years after a judge is first appointed, and every six years thereafter, the public uses nonpartisan elections to elect them. That’s why you see the names on your ballot.

As Walz said, “It’s not by chance that we [in Minnesota] get really good judges. It’s by design that we get really good judges.”

Unlike some states where judicial candidates accept endorsements and dollars from political parties, Minnesota doesn’t allow that and our judicial selection commission is nonpartisan, with 22 members from across the state selected by the justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court and 27 by the governor.

Almost half of the 49 commission members are not attorneys. We’re past or present educators, entrepreneurs, executives, journalists, social workers and government officials from across this state. We’re Asian American, Black, Latino, Native American, mixed-race and white. In choosing us, the justices and the governor must ensure that “permanent members of the commission include women and minorities.”

Fifteen of the 20 commission members who identify as people of color were appointed by Walz. Our role is to recruit and interview judicial candidates, their references and colleagues. We vote individually and anonymously. We forward on to the governor the candidates with the highest tally for him to interview.

Since I’ve been on the commission, there has been a diverse pool of candidates by race, gender, geographic area and professional background who have interviewed with what the governor’s staff says is “the most diverse commission in Minnesota history.”

Having a racially diverse commission has resulted in a racially diverse pool of judicial candidates who were recommended to the governor and reflected in his appointments. In 2023, the last year for which data is publicly available, 35% of the appointed judges self-identified as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous or people of color), while 50% of them are female, closely reflecting the community they serve. Minnesota has about 25% people of color and about 50% women, according to the 2020 census.

Bench diversity extends to practice area with 29% of the 2023 appointees coming from private practice, 28% from either public civil practice or the public defender’s office. While 36% were once public prosecutors, 7% of them had a mix of both public defender and prosecutor experience and only 7% were in-house government officials.

“We have two district court judges from greater Minnesota on the Supreme Court … and it’s because of the commission,” Walz said, adding that the district court judiciary is now “more diverse, which is giving people a better opportunity to feel like they’re heard in the courtroom.”

Studies show that diversity matters. The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice examined nearly 60 years of court data across the country and concluded: “a diverse bench also promotes public confidence that the judicial system is fair and objective. When the judiciary includes all voices and perspectives, members of the public are more likely to trust that theirs will be heard as well.”

Racial and gender diversity on the bench isn’t just symbolic, it strengthens justice. Our district court judges are often candidates for higher courts in this state and at the federal level.

Under Walz, we have seen the first Muslim serve on Minnesota Supreme Court and Natalie Hudson as the first Black chief justice; the first Jewish woman as chief judge of the Court of Appeals as well as the first Native American woman and first Native Hawaiian/Asian Pacific Islander on the Court of Appeals, as well as diversity with greater Minnesota appointments. He also restored a female majority to the Supreme Court. (In 1991, Minnesota became the first state in the nation to have a female majority on its highest court.)

Our state legislators have been in favor of bench diversity for decades, that’s why the statute also says, “The commission shall give consideration to women and minorities.” While similar language is now plaguing university admissions, corporate human resources departments, vendor contracts, and foundations that grant scholarships, the judiciary cannot afford to backslide. The stark racial disparities in our criminal justice system mean the people most impacted by our legal system are disproportionately people of color, so any suggestion that we should stop considering diversity in judicial appointments would be shortsighted.

More diversity on the bench doesn’t mean the judges are less skilled. The commission’s recommendations are well-qualified candidates who undergo a fair and rigorous selection process. As set forth in statute, we identify judicial candidates who have “integrity, maturity, health if job related, judicial temperament, diligence, legal knowledge, ability and experience, and community service.”

In addition, I personally look for judicial candidates who display they will have empathy and understanding toward litigants, especially ones who can’t afford an attorney. A great lawyer seeking to be a judge can learn new areas of the law, but it’s a lot harder for someone to learn how to be understanding and fair if it’s not innate in their personality.

I believe that Minnesota’s judicial system works best when the people in the black robes understand the lived experiences of those who stand before them. That’s important not just in criminal, civil and juvenile court, but also in family court. After all, justice may be blind, but judges shouldn’t be blind to the realities of those before them.

That’s why Minnesota’s judicial selection process isn’t rigged. It’s fair, thorough and committed to excellence, fairness and diversity.

Sheree R. Curry is the co-president of the National Association of Black Journalists Minnesota (NABJ-MN), formerly known as the Twin Cities Black Journalists. She also wears many other hats, including covering news about corporate America for national media outlets. Follow her @shereecurry on LinkedIn.