# Martin A. Nelson *American attorney, politician, and jurist from Minnesota who served as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court* Martin A. Nelson (February 21, 1889 – May 22, 1979) was a lawyer, politician and judge in [[Minnesota]]. He sat as an associate justice of the [[Minnesota Supreme Court]] from his appointment in 1953 until he retired in 1972.[^1] Before reaching the bench, Nelson twice won the Republican nomination for [[governor]], in 1934 and 1936, and lost both general elections. In 1942 he finished third as an independent candidate for the [[United States Senate]].[^1] The Wikipedia account states that his effort to stay on the court until he retired at eighty-two led to the law requiring state judges to retire at seventy.[^1] ## Early life and education Nelson was born in Hesper Township in Winneshiek County, Iowa, and attended school there before relocating to Minnesota.[^1] He completed a law degree in 1916 at the St. Paul College of Law, the school later known as William Mitchell College of Law.[^1] ## Career Nelson practiced law in St. Paul before he enlisted in the military. During World War I he served as an aviator and as an aviation instructor at American air training fields.[^1] After the war he practiced law in Austin, Minnesota, from 1919 until 1944.[^1] He was a trustee of St. Olaf Hospital in Austin for 22 years and served as board president for 10 of those years. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1928 and 1932.[^1] Nelson carried the Republican nomination for governor in 1934 and again in 1936. He lost the first general election to [[Floyd B. Olson]] and the second to [[Elmer A. Benson]].[^1] In the 1942 race for the U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota, he ran as an independent and took 14.4 percent of the vote, placing third.[^1] In 1944 he received an appointment as a state district court judge in Austin.[^1] In 1953 Governor [[C. Elmer Anderson]] named Nelson to the state supreme court. The seat had become vacant when [[Roger L. Dell]] was elevated to chief justice.[^1] Nelson remained on the court until he retired in 1972.[^1] The Wikipedia account states that his effort to stay on the court despite his age gave rise to the law requiring state judges to retire at seventy. He was eighty-two when he finally retired.[^1] The enactment record of that retirement law is not among this article's sources. The record here therefore reports the causal link as Wikipedia's account and does not independently establish it.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Martin A. Nelson* (revision 1354057426, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Nelson's birth and death dates, education, law practice, military service, hospital trusteeship, convention delegacies, gubernatorial and Senate campaigns, district and supreme court appointments, retirement, and the account of the judicial retirement-age law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Nelson