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Walz names first Black chief justice of state Supreme Court, Natalie Hudson
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday promoted Natalie Hudson to become chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court this fall, which will make her the first person of color to lead it.
Hudson, who is Black, has been an associate justice since 2015. She will lead the high court when current Chief Justice Lorie Gildea retires in October.
"Justice Hudson is one of our state's most experienced jurists. She has a strong reputation as a leader and consensus builder," Walz said in a statement. "I am confident that she will advance a vision that promotes fairness and upholds the dignity of all Minnesotans."
The appointment will leave only one Republican-appointed justice but isn't expected to affect the ideological balance of what court watchers celebrate as a nonpartisan court, especially compared with neighboring Wisconsin's divided state Supreme Court and an increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
Governors appoint judges in Minnesota without legislative confirmation. A Democrat appointed Hudson to the high court in 2015, after she had served as a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals for 13 years, to replace retiring Justice Alan Page, the state Supreme Court's first Black justice.
"This is a tremendous responsibility that I approach with humility and resolve, seeking to continue the work of my predecessors in administering one of the best state court systems in the nation," Hudson said in the same statement released by Walz.
Anansi Wilson, director of the Center for the Study of Black Life and the Law at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said Hudson's promotion is historic and important because she brings not only expertise but lived experiences. "It's important to have a Black woman there who's principled, studied and prominent in the community," he said.
Wilson also said it's significant that Minnesota, a mostly white state known partly for the murder of George Floyd, is seeing more Black people represented in positions of authority, such as Page, and Keith Ellison, the state's first Black attorney general.
"What does it mean that Black people are becoming the face of justice in this state and not just injustice?" he asked.
Walz named Karl Procaccini, his former general counsel, to fill Hudson's spot as associate justice.
Procaccini is a visiting professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. He served as the top lawyer in the governor's office, where his work included the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.