ST. PAUL, Minn. (CN) — Minnesota’s governor announced the appointment Wednesday morning of the state Supreme Court’s first chief justice of color, alongside that of a new associate justice to fill her spot.
Justice Natalie Hudson, whom Democratic former Governor Mark Dayton first tapped for the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2015, will succeed Chief Justice Lorie Gildea when Gildea steps down in October.
“I know that she will use her decades of judicial experience and deep understanding of our justice system to lead the Judicial Branch with a steady hand and strong conviction,” Governor Tim Walz said of Hudson in a statement. “I am confident that she will advance a vision that promotes fairness and upholds the dignity of all Minnesotans.”
Hudson’s career as chief justice will be relatively short: The mandatory retirement age for Minnesota judges is 70. At 66, Hudson can be expected to leave her position by January 2027, with the deadline days after the end of Walz’s current term.
Before joining the Supreme Court, Hudson sat on the Minnesota Court of Appeals for over 12 years. She graduated from the University of Minnesota’s Law School in 1982 and started her legal career with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, which represents indigent clients in civil matters, before moving to private practice. She has also worked as an assistant attorney general, as city attorney for the state capital of St. Paul and as an assistant dean of student affairs at that city’s Hamline University School of Law, now known as the Mitchell Hamline School of Law after a merger.
“Justice Hudson is an outstanding choice to serve as Minnesota’s next Chief Justice,” Gildea said in a statement issued by the Minnesota Judicial Branch. “I have had the privilege of working closely with her on the Supreme Court for nearly eight years, and I have been impressed by her deep knowledge of the law, her collegial spirit, and her unparalleled work ethic.”
Hudson is one of only a few Black justices to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court, and the only chief justice of color to lead it. Alan Page, became the first Black justice in 1992 and served until Hudson replaced him in 2015, retiring from a legal career he began in 1978 while still playing as a defensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings. In 2012, Judge Wilhelmina Wright joined the court for a four-year period before President Obama appointed her to the federal bench.
Taking Hudson's place as associate justice will be Karl Procaccini, who spent four years in the governor's office as Walz's former general counsel and deputy chief of staff, departing the position this past June.
Like Hudson, Procaccini had stints in academia, private practice and public service before coming to the Supreme Court. He joined Walz’s administration after six years with the Minneapolis firm Greene Espel. Procaccini has been a visiting professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law since July. He joined the school as an adjunct professor in 2017.
Gildea announced her impending retirement from the high court in June. Appointed to the court in 2006 by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty and elevated to the chief justice spot by Pawlenty in 2010, she oversaw the expansion of audio and visual access to criminal proceedings during the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the growth of substance-use treatment courts. More recently, Gildea helmed a statewide pilot project that allows legal paraprofessionals to represent clients in certain housing and family matters while supervised by a licensed attorney.
Gildea’s retirement leaves just one Republican appointee on the court, Justice Barry Anderson. When the jurist turns 70 in 2024, Walz will also get a chance to fill Anderson’s seat as well. Walz’s appointments of justices to vacant seats do not need confirmation, but Minnesota Supreme Court justices are elected in six-year cycles.
The appointment of Procaccini will also put an end to the court’s current 4-3 female majority, established with the appointment of Justices Margaret Chutich and Ane McKeig in 2016.
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