# Rosalie E. Wahl *American lawyer and jurist; first woman to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court* Sara Rosalie Wahl (born Erwin; August 27, 1924 – July 22, 2013) was a public defender, clinical law professor, feminist and judge. She was the first woman to sit on the [[Minnesota Supreme Court]], where she served for about seventeen years.[^1] Governor [[Rudy Perpich]] named her to the court in 1977. In the 1978 non-partisan election for the seat, she defeated three male challengers.[^1] On the court she chaired the state's Gender Bias Taskforce and its Racial Bias Taskforce. She also led the American Bar Association's work to establish clinical legal education.[^1] Her appointment came after a campaign by Minnesota feminist organizations to place a woman on the court. Perpich pledged in January 1977 to appoint one.[^2] Her seat was then contested under Minnesota's system of non-partisan judicial elections. Under that system, serious challenges to sitting justices are rare, and no incumbent had been unseated since 1900.[^3] Over seventeen years on the bench she wrote 549 opinions.[^1] These included the majority opinion in *State v. Russell* (477 N.W.2d 886 [Minn. 1993]), which held unconstitutional the different penalties for crack and powder cocaine.[^1] ## Early life and education Wahl was born in Caney, Kansas. Her mother died when Wahl was three, and her grandmother and her Aunt Sara raised her.[^4] At age seven she opened a railroad crossing gate for the family's horse-drawn wagon. A late-running train that had not sounded its whistle then killed her grandfather and her younger brother in front of her.[^4] A local lawyer asked for a $100 retainer to pursue restitution. Wahl later recalled that during the Depression that sum "might have well have been a million."[^4] She was raised Methodist and became a Quaker in college. At the University of Kansas in the 1940s she worked against racism through the YWCA and lived in a racially integrated communal home.[^4] She began as a journalism major and edited the *Daily Kansan*.[^4] In 1943 her fiancé, who had enlisted in the Air Force, died in a military training accident. She then left school to teach in the one-room Birch Creek school she had attended as a child.[^4] She returned to the University of Kansas and completed a degree in sociology in 1946.[^4] After marrying Roswell Wahl she moved to [[Minnesota]]. The couple lived with friends on forty acres north of Circle Pines, where the group hoped to build an intentional community.[^4] ## Early career Her first venture into public affairs was a proposal to extend the county library system, which the [[County Board]] rejected.[^5] She was ushered out of the room and not allowed to observe the board's proceedings. Wahl afterward resolved to stop waiting outside rooms where men made the decisions.[^5] After the birth of four children, she enrolled in night classes at William Mitchell College of Law (now [[Mitchell Hamline School of Law]]). Her fifth child was born during her second year.[^5] Her class had one other woman, and the only woman on the faculty was the law librarian.[^5] She graduated in 1967. C. Paul Jones then hired her as an Assistant State Public Defender in the newly created public defender's office and let her work part-time. Few legal employers of the period allowed this.[^5] The work brought her extensive appellate experience: she argued 109 cases before the Minnesota Supreme Court.[^5] She divorced in 1972.[^5] In 1973 William Mitchell hired her to set up a criminal and civil law clinic. Students lined up all night for its sixty places, and many of them later worked on her campaign.[^5] ## Feminist campaign to select a woman to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court In 1966 Betty Kane started a statewide DFL Women's Federation. The DFL Women's Caucus succeeded it in 1971 and became the [[DFL Feminist Caucus]] in 1973.[^2] The caucus pressed the party to run more women and to ensure that DFL candidates were pro-choice. A report prepared for the caucus described women in the party as "Present but Powerless."[^2] As of 1977, no woman had served on the U.S. Supreme Court, and only one woman sat on a federal appellate court. Only five other women served on state supreme courts.[^2] In Minnesota, the first woman trial judge was [[Susanne C. Sedgwick]], a Republican. She had won a seat on the [[Hennepin County District Court]] in 1970 by running against an incumbent.[^2] The [[Minnesota Women's Political Caucus]] and Minnesota Women Lawyers each worked to identify qualified women. Minnesota Women Lawyers sent a questionnaire to every woman lawyer asking whether she would serve on boards or the bench.[^2] Wahl had never argued before a woman judge, and she held on to her questionnaire for two years before returning it.[^2] The Minnesota Women Lawyers endorsement committee was chaired by Judith L. Oakes. It reduced a list of eighteen names to seven: Doris Huspeni, Phyllis Gene Jones, Roberta Levy, Delores Orey, Sedgwick, [[Esther Tomljanovich]], and Wahl.[^6] Wahl's name also appeared on the lists that the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus and the DFL Feminist Caucus sent to Perpich.[^6] The other two finalists were Roberta Levy, a [[University of Minnesota]] law professor, and Hennepin Municipal Judge Diana Murphy.[^6] In January 1977 Perpich became the first governor to formally address the DFL Feminist Caucus. In answer to a question, he promised that a woman would fill the next Supreme Court vacancy.[^2] ## Selecting Minnesota judges Minnesota elects its judges in non-partisan contests. Candidates for the supreme court appear on the ballot without a party label, but sitting justices are identified as incumbents.[^3] In practice, a justice who plans to retire informs the governor, who names a successor when the retirement is announced. The appointee can then run as an incumbent.[^3] A justice appointed more than a year before the next election had to stand in that election and then every six years after.[^3] As of 1977, [[C. Donald Peterson]] was the only member of the court who had won his seat by election rather than by appointment. No incumbent had lost an election since 1900.[^3] ## Appointment to the Minnesota Supreme Court President Carter nominated Associate Justice Harry MacLaughlin, a former law partner of Senator [[Walter Mondale]], to the federal bench.[^7] *Minneapolis Star* reporter Gwenyth Jones then wrote a front-page column recalling the governor's pledge. When news of the nomination broke, Perpich said only that his appointee would be a woman.[^7] Carol Connolly promised the governor she would run Wahl's campaign.[^7] On June 3, 1977, nearly 4,500 women had gathered in [[St. Cloud]] to set a platform and choose delegates to the upcoming White House Conference on Women in Houston.[^7] There, conference chair and [[Minnesota Secretary of State]] [[Joan Growe]] announced that Perpich would appoint Wahl. Wahl would be the court's first woman and its 72nd justice.[^7] In her remarks, Wahl pledged to remember the women before her who had known disappointment, scorn and exclusion.[^7] ## The Campaign Wahl drew three opponents, which forced a primary. It was the first serious challenge to a seated justice in two decades.[^8] The challengers were Ramsey County District Court Judge Jerome J. Plunkett, Rochester District Court Judge Daniel Foley, and former Attorney General Robert W. Mattson. All three criticized her lack of judicial experience.[^8] Wahl led the primary with 231,000 votes, against 130,000 for Mattson, the runner-up. In the general election Mattson took up Plunkett's criticisms.[^8] Mattson ran a series of negative advertisements. One said she had a poor win/loss record before the Supreme Court. That record came from appeals she had argued for indigent defendants who had already been convicted.[^8] Another ad, modeled on the campaign against California Chief Justice Rose Bird, charged that "Ms. [sic] Wahl lets rapists loose." A third said she let drug dealers loose.[^8] The rapist ad referred to *State v. Willis* (269 N.W.2d [Minn. 1978]), in which Wahl was the only dissenter. In that case, a defendant had held his victim at knifepoint. According to the account, she dissented because a trial court had suppressed evidence and police had searched the defendant's house unlawfully.[^8] In November 1978 Wahl received more votes than any other candidate on the ballot and kept her seat.[^8] The account credits her colleagues' support as one factor in her success. Chief Justice [[Sandy Keith]], who joined the court later, wrote of her ability to get along with others.[^8] ## Impact on the law In 1982 Republican Governor [[Al Quie]] appointed the court's second woman, Mary Jeanne Coyne. Wahl later said she had not realized how isolated she had felt before then.[^9] In 1984 Wahl was re-elected without a challenger.[^9] Perpich appointed more women than all earlier Minnesota governors combined. He was also the first governor to choose a woman, [[Marlene Johnson]], as his running mate for lieutenant governor.[^9] Before Wahl retired in 1994, women held four of the seven seats on the court. Minnesota was the first state to have a woman majority on its supreme court.[^9] Research on the court's growing number of women found three effects. Voter participation in judicial races changed little. Lawyers became more willing to appeal women's rights cases, a trend that peaked when three women sat on the court. Some reports described a changed courtroom atmosphere.[^9] Kathleen Blatz, a Republican, served as the first woman chief justice from 1998 to 2006.[^9] Wahl argued that the Minnesota Constitution required the state government to meet a higher standard of rationality than the federal Constitution imposes on the national government. She urged a broader reading of individual rights than the U.S. Constitution provides.[^9] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - Wahl was the first woman, and the 72nd justice, to serve on the [[Minnesota Supreme Court]].[^7] - Governor [[Rudy Perpich]] appointed her in 1977. Republican Governor [[Al Quie]] appointed the second woman justice, Mary Jeanne Coyne, in 1982.[^1][^9] ### What - Wahl chaired the state's Gender Bias Taskforce and Racial Bias Taskforce.[^1] - She wrote the majority opinion in *State v. Russell* (477 N.W.2d 886 [Minn. 1993]).[^1] ### When - Her appointment was announced on June 3, 1977. She won the election in November 1978, was re-elected without challenge in 1984, and retired in 1994.[^7][^8][^9] - She died on July 22, 2013.[^1] ### Where - She was born in Caney, Kansas.[^4] ### How many - She wrote 549 opinions over seventeen years.[^9] - As a public defender she argued 109 cases before the Minnesota Supreme Court.[^5] - She received 231,000 votes in the 1978 primary; Mattson received 130,000.[^8] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, lead section (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26; CC BY-SA 4.0) — dates, offices, 1977 nomination and 1978 election, taskforces, opinion count, *State v. Russell*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl [^2]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, section *Feminist campaign to select a woman to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court* (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26) — DFL women's organizations, 1977 national figures, the questionnaire, Perpich's January 1977 pledge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl [^3]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, section *Selecting Minnesota judges* (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26) — the non-partisan election system, incumbency practice, Peterson, 1900. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl [^4]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, section *Early life and education* (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26) — birthplace, family losses, schooling, move to Minnesota. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl [^5]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, section *Early career* (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26) — library proposal, law school, public defender work, 109 arguments, 1973 clinic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl [^6]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, section *Identifying women candidates* (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Minnesota Women Lawyers' list of seven and the finalists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl [^7]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, section *Appointment to the Minnesota Supreme Court* (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26) — MacLaughlin vacancy, June 3, 1977 announcement, 72nd justice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl [^8]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, section *The Campaign* (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26) — 1978 challengers, primary vote totals, advertisements, *State v. Willis*, November 1978 result. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl [^9]: Wikipedia, *Rosalie E. Wahl*, section *Impact on the law* (revision 1378385086, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Coyne appointment, 1984 retention, women majority to 1994, Blatz, Wahl's constitutional views. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_E._Wahl