Lorie Gildea

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Lorie Gildea
Image of Lorie Gildea

Nonpartisan

Prior offices
Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice

Education

Bachelor's

University of Minnesota, Morris, 1983

Law

Georgetown University Law Center, 1986

Contact

Campaign Facebook 

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Lorie Gildea was the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. She assumed office on July 1, 2010. She left office on October 1, 2023.

Gildea ran for re-election as Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. She won in the general election on November 6, 2018.

Gildea resigned as Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court on October 1, 2023. [1]

In Minnesota, the position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court (similar to the Supreme Court of the United States) rather than a peer-selected leadership position. She was first appointed to the court as an associate justice on January 11, 2006, by Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) to fill a vacancy on the bench.[2] She was subsequently elected in a nonpartisan election in 2008. To read more about judicial selection in Minnesota, click here.

Pawlenty also appointed Gildea to the position of chief justice in 2010.[3]

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[4] Gildea received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[5] Click here to read more about this study.

Biography

Gildea received her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota at Morris in 1983 and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.[6] Prior to her tenure on the Minnesota Supreme Court, she was a judge for the Minnesota Fourth Judicial District. Before becoming a judge, she worked as an assistant attorney for Hennepin County, associate general counsel for the University of Minnesota, and as an attorney with Arent Fox.

Elections

2023

See also: Minnesota Supreme Court chief justice vacancy (October 2023)

Gildea resigned from the Minnesota Supreme Court on October 1, 2023.[1]

2018

See also: Minnesota Supreme Court elections, 2018

General election

General election for Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice

Incumbent Lorie Gildea won election in the general election for Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Lorie Gildea
Lorie Gildea (Nonpartisan)
 
99.1
 
1,636,533
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.9
 
15,390

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 1,651,923
(100.00% precincts reporting)
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2012

See also: Minnesota judicial elections, 2012

Gildea was re-elected to the chief justiceship of the Minnesota Supreme Court. She defeated challenger Dan Griffith in the general election, winning 60% of the vote.[7] Another challenger, Jill Clark, was defeated in the August 14th primary.

2010

Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) appointed Gildea to the chief justice position of the Minnesota Supreme Court.[3]

2008

See also: Minnesota Supreme Court elections

In the contest for seat 4, incumbent Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea garnered 55% of the vote and defeated Deborah Hedlund, who received 45% of the vote.[8]

Candidate IncumbentElection %
Supreme-Court-Elections-badge.png
Lorie Gildea ApprovedA Yes55%
Deborah Hedlund No44.5%
Richard Gallo No
Jill Clark No

[9][10]

2006

Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) appointed Gildea to the Minnesota Supreme Court.[3]

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship and Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

Last updated: June 15, 2020

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.

The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[11]

The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:

  • Strong Democrat
  • Mild Democrat
  • Indeterminate[12]
  • Mild Republican
  • Strong Republican

This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.

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Lorie
Gildea

Minnesota

  • Partisan Confidence Score:
    Mild Republican
  • Judicial Selection Method:
    Elected
  • Key Factors:
    • Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
    • Appointed by a Republican governor


Partisan Profile

Details:

Gildea donated $1,000 to Republican candidates and organizations. She was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R).

Other Scores:

In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Gildea received a campaign finance score of -0.19, indicating a liberal ideological leaning.



Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)

See also: Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores of state supreme court justices, 2012

In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.

Gildea received a campaign finance score of -0.19, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.07 that justices received in Minnesota.

The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[13]

State supreme court judicial selection in Minnesota

See also: Judicial selection in Minnesota

The seven judges of the Minnesota Supreme Court are chosen in nonpartisan general elections to six-year terms. Sitting judges must run for re-election if they wish to serve additional terms. While party affiliation is not designated on the ballot, incumbency is.[14]

Qualifications

Judges of the supreme court are required to be "learned in the law" and under 70 years old. Sitting judges who reach the age of 70 while in office are allowed to serve until the last day of that month.[14]

Chief justice

The chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court is directly chosen by voters in a nonpartisan election. He or she serves in that capacity for a full six-year term.[14]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

Interim vacancies on the supreme court are filled via gubernatorial appointment. After serving for at least one year, the appointed judge can run for a full term in the next general election.[14] Other candidates may file to run against them in the election.[15]

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.



Noteworthy events

Court system budget funding (2017)

In 2017, Gildea urged legislators to fully fund the court system’s budget request.[16] She told the Minnesota Lawyer that "if the justice system is not adequately funded, the ability to carry out our constitutional obligation is in doubt."[17]

Lawsuit to remove Gildea from ballot (2008)

Jill Clark filed a petition in early August 2008 seeking to have Gildea's name removed from the September 9 primary ballot. Clark argued that the judicial appointment process that was operative in Minnesota was unconstitutional because it undermined the election process on the grounds that "incumbent" appeared next to Gildea's name. Gildea was appointed to her supreme court seat in 2006 by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, which is why she was listed as an incumbent--she had not previously won election to her seat.[18]

The petition to remove Gildea from the ballot had to be considered by the Minnesota Supreme Court. Gildea's colleagues recused themselves, and chief justice Eric Magnuson appointed a special board of five retired justices to adjudicate the case. Three of the five retired justices sitting on the special 5-member board had previously endorsed Gildea's re-election campaign: Sam Hanson, Edward Stringer, and Esther Tomljanovich.[19]

Ultimately, Clark's efforts to remove Gildea's name failed at the state and federal level.[20]

See also

Minnesota Judicial Selection More Courts
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Courts in Minnesota
Minnesota Court of Appeals
Minnesota Supreme Court
Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017
Gubernatorial appointments
Judicial selection in Minnesota
Federal courts
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Local courts

External links

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Candidate

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 ‘'Minnesota Judicial Branch, "Chief Justice Lorie Gildea to step down from Supreme Court on October 1," accessed October 3, 2023
    2. ↑ Northlands News Center, "Pawlenty Names Chief Justice & Makes Supreme Court Appointment," May 13, 2010
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Star-Tribune, "Pawlenty names Lorie Gildea new chief justice," May 13, 2010
    4. ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
    5. ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
    6. ↑ Minnesota Courts, "Justice Gildea biography," accessed June 24, 2021
    7. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "General Election Results," November 6, 2012
    8. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2008 General Election Results," accessed June 24, 2021
    9. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2008 Primary Election Results," accessed June 24, 2021
    10. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2008 General Election Results," accessed June 24, 2021
    11. ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
    12. ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
    13. ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
    14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 4, 2021
    15. ↑ The Office of the Revisor of Statutes, "Constitution of the State of Minnesota," accessed August 8, 2016
    16. ↑ Twin Cities Pioneer Press, "Minnesota’s judges say they need more money. Will they get it?" April 20, 2017
    17. ↑ Minnesota Lawyer, "Q&A: Chief Justice Lorie Gildea," April 17, 2017
    18. ↑ Star Tribune, "Court candidate takes on big battle," August 13, 2008
    19. ↑ MinnPost.com, "Judicial conflicts: State Supreme Court case is filled with them," August 22, 2008
    20. ↑ Star Tribune, "Justice will keep 'incumbent' label," August 26, 2008

    Minnesota courts

    Federal courts:

    Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Minnesota • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Minnesota

    State courts:

    Minnesota Supreme Court • Minnesota Court of Appeals • Minnesota District Courts • Minnesota Problem-Solving Courts • Minnesota Tax Court • Minnesota Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals

    State resources:

    Courts in Minnesota • Minnesota judicial elections • Judicial selection in Minnesota


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