The Minnesota Supreme Court has discretionary review. Only about five percent of Court of Appeals decisions are accepted by the Supreme Court for further review, meaning that the Court of Appeals makes the final ruling in the vast majority of the 2,000 to 2,400 appeals filed every year.[1]
Procedure
Under Minnesota law, the Court of Appeals must issue a decision within 90 days after oral arguments. If no oral argument is held, a decision is due within 90 days of the case's scheduled conference date. This deadline is the shortest imposed on any appellate court in the nation.[1] The court expedites decisions on child custody cases, mental health commitments and other matters in which the parties request accelerated response.
Composition
The 19 judges of the Minnesota Court of Appeals are elected to renewable six-year terms.[2] When a midterm vacancy occurs, the governor appoints a replacement to a term that ends after the general election occurring more than one year after the appointment.[3] All judges who have served on the court have been appointed by the governor.[4] The chief judge is selected by the governor from the members of the court to serve a fixed three-year term.[5]
Eight seats are associated with Minnesota's congressional districts. Judges for those seats must live in the associated district at the time of appointment or initial election. But seated judges remain eligible for those positions even if they later move to another district. Remaining seats are at-large positions that can be filled without regard to residency. The seats associated with congressional districts are redesignated every ten years following reapportionment of the districts. The most recent reapportionment occurred in 2022. The seats on the Court of Appeals were redesignated in January 2023.[6]
Members sit in three-judge panels in various locations throughout the state to hear oral arguments, all of which are open to the public.[1]
^"Judges of the Minnesota Court of Appeals". Chronological Listing of Judges and Justices of the Minnesota Appellate Courts. Minnesota State Law Library. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
