Anne McKeig ’92 was sworn in as an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court today.
McKeig is the court’s 94th associate justice. A descendant of the White Earth Ojibwe, she is the first American Indian to serve on Minnesota’s highest court. In addition, McKeig is the first American Indian woman in the country to serve on any state’s highest court.
Photo courtesy Minnesota Judicial Branch
The public swearing-in ceremony took place at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, where McKeig received her undergraduate degree in 1989.
Gov. Mark Dayton picked McKeig to replace Justice Christopher Dietzen, who left the bench Aug. 31. Dietzen retired after eight years on the court.
McKeig earned her J.D. in 1992 from Hamline University School of Law, one of Mitchell Hamline’s predecessor schools. She has taught as an adjunct professor at both Hamline Law and at William Mitchell College of Law, the other Mitchell Hamline predecessor.
She was appointed in 2008 by Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a district court judge in the Fourth Judicial District, where she served as Presiding Judge in Family Court. McKeig worked from 1992-2008 as Assistant Hennepin County Attorney, specializing in Indian child welfare cases.
McKeig is among several Mitchell Hamline American Indian alums who serve in the judiciary.
Leo Brisbois ’87 (HUSL) was appointed as a judge on the U.S. magistrate court for the District of Minnesota in 2010 in Duluth. Brisbois was the first American Indian to lead the Minnesota State Bar Association, where he was president from 2009-2010.
Megan Treuer ‘05 (HUSL) is an associate tribal judge for her tribe, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, as well as for the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. Treuer’s mother is Margaret Treuer, who was the first American Indian woman attorney in Minnesota and has been a tribal judge for many tribes, including the Bois Forte Band, where she has been the presiding judge for more than 20 years.
Jessica Ryan ’97 (HUSL) has served as an appellate court judge for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and she is currently the district court judge for the Lower Sioux Indian Community. Ryan is an enrolled member of the Brothertown Indian Nation in Wisconsin.
Lenor Scheffler ’88 (WMCL) was born and raised on the Lower Sioux Reservation near Morton, Minnesota. Scheffler was the first enrolled member of any Minnesota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribe to become a lawyer. From 2001-06 she served as the chief judge for the Upper Sioux Community Tribal Court. She remains active in the Mitchell Hamline community as a member of the school’s Board of Trustees and as a mentor to American Indian students.
Mary Al Balber ’90 (HUSL) has served as an appellate judge for the Fond du Lac Band of the Ojibwe Tribal Court and as an associate judge of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe.
Other members of the Mitchell Hamline community serve in the judiciary as well.
Mitchell Hamline professor Sarah Deer is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. Deer has served on the Prairie Island Indian Community Court of Appeals since 2013. She was appointed chief justice in 2016. Deer has also served as an appellate judge for the White Earth Nation since 2015.
Mitchell Hamline professor Colette Routel is an appellate judge for the White Earth Nation and for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and has also served in that role for Prairie Island Indian Community.
Mitchell Hamline Emerita Clinical Professor of Law Mary Jo Brooks Hunter was elected the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Ho-Chunk Nation, where she is an enrolled member. She has previously served as a judge for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and as an appellate judge for the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe. She is currently trial court judge for the Ho-Chunk Nation.
Austin Needham, a 2L at Mitchell Hamline, serves as an associate judge in the Red Lake Nation Tribal Court, where he is an enrolled member.
And while Mitchell Hamline adjunct professor John Jacobson isn’t American Indian, he’s one of the two longest-serving tribal judges in the state. Jacobson has served on the Tribal Court of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community in Minnesota since 1988.