Governor taps Eric Magnuson to be state high court chief justice
by Mark A. Cohen
Eric Magnuson at the press conference announcing his selection as chief justice.
Magnuson is friend, advisor and former work colleague of the governor. He will replace Chief Justice Russell Anderson when he retires on June 1.
In recently announcing his retirement, Anderson, 65, cited his age and his wife's health concerns as the motivating factors. Anderson has been chief since January 2006, when Pawlenty elevated him from associate justice to replace then retiring Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz.
Pawlenty worked with Magnuson at the now defunct Minneapolis law firm of Rider Bennett. After the firm closed its doors last year, Magnuson moved to the Minneapolis firm of Briggs and Morgan. Coincidentally, Associate Justice Sam Hanson rejoined Briggs and Morgan earlier this year after retiring from the high court. (Hanson had been with the firm for 34 years before being appointed to a seat on the Court of Appeals by Gov. Jesse Ventura in 2000.)
Magnuson has served as chair of the Commission on Judicial Selection during the Pawlenty administration, giving him an important role in the appointment of trial court judges. Magnuson is well regarded in the legal community. He is a former president of the Eighth Circuit Bar Association.
Magnuson will be one of three justices to come to the high court directly from practice. Associate Justice Alan Page, the most senior member of the court, was an assistant attorney general when he was elected to the court in 1993. Associate Justice Helen Meyer ran a civil-litigation practice in St. Louis Park when she was tapped for the high court by Gov. Jesse Ventura in 2002.
