A second Minnesota Supreme Court justice announces retirement
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Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice Margaret Chutich announced Tuesday that she plans to retire at the end of the court’s 2023-2024 term.
Chutich, 65, was appointed by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to the state Court of Appeals in 2012 and then to the Supreme Court in 2016. She was elected in 2018.
Her last day on the bench will be July 31.
“I have loved serving the people of Minnesota on their appellate courts, first on the Minnesota Court of Appeals for four years and now as a member of this Court for almost eight years,” she wrote in a letter to Gov. Tim Walz. “I am also grateful to my colleagues on the Court, who strive every day in a collegial and collaborative fashion to apply the law in a principled and even-handed way. They are hard-working, intelligent, and kind human beings.”
Chutich, the first member of the LGBTQ+ community to serve openly on the high court, said she didn’t realize the impact of her appointment until she met several mothers who thanked her for the positive effect her appointment had on their LGBTQ+ children.
Chutich is the second justice on the seven-member court to announce retirement plans this month.
Associate Justice G. Barry Anderson, appointed to the Supreme Court by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2004, announced last week that he plans to retire on May 10. Anderson, the last Republican appointee on the high court, will reach Minnesota’s mandatory judicial retirement age of 70 in October.
With Anderson’s and Chutich’s successors, Walz will have appointed four justices to the Supreme Court, a majority. Walz has been governor since 2019 and started his second four-year term last year. Democrats have held the governor’s office since 2011.
Last year, Walz appointed Karl Procaccini to an associate justice position after Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, a 2006 Pawlenty appointee, announced her retirement. Walz named Natalie Hudson, a 2015 Dayton appointee, the new chief justice after Gildea’s departure.
Walz also appointed Associate Justice Gordon Moore in 2020. Moore succeeded Associate Justice David Lillehaug, a Dayton appointee.
Associate Justices Anne McKeig and Paul Thissen are also Dayton appointees.
Minnesota Supreme Court justices are typically appointed by the governor when there’s a vacancy on the court, though they do face election and serve six-year terms.
Judicial positions are nonpartisan in Minnesota.
