12 apply for North Dakota Supreme Court vacancy

BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — Twelve people have applied to be North Dakota’s next Supreme Court justice, including four district court judges.

A spot on the court is up for grabs after Justice Daniel Crothers announced last month he will retire in February after 20 years on the bench.

The application window for attorneys interested in replacing Crothers closed Tuesday afternoon.

A committee will select two to seven names to nominate for appointment by Gov. Kelly Armstrong. Armstrong, a Republican, can then either pick the next justice from that group, ask the committee for more nominees or refer the matter to the election ballot for a public vote.

North Dakota State Bar Association Executive Director Tony Weiler — who oversees the committee but is not a voting member — said he expects the committee to interview candidates during the third week of January.

Philip Axt
Philip Axt is North Dakota’s solicitor general. His job includes representing the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office in high-profile lawsuits. He has delivered oral arguments in front of the North Dakota Supreme Court defending North Dakota’s abortion ban and its carbon dioxide storage law, and before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals defending the state’s 2021 redistricting plan. Axt graduated from Yale Law School in 2018.

Mark Friese
Mark Friese is a longtime North Dakota defense attorney for Vogel Law Firm in Fargo. He serves as a liaison between the federal judiciary and private defense attorneys appointed to represent federal defendants who can’t afford their own representation.

He served as the defense attorney for former state Sen. Ray Holmberg, who in March was sentenced to 10 years after pleading guilty to traveling abroad intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Friese is a former police officer and graduated from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 2000.

Judge Michael Hurly
Michael Hurly is a judge for the Northeast Judicial District in Rugby. He was appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Doug Burgum in 2017. Before his judgeship, Hurly worked in private practice in Devils Lake. He graduated from the UND School of Law in 2005.

Ariston Johnson
Ariston Johnson is a civil litigator in Watford City who focuses on oil and gas law, among other areas of practice. He is a partner at the law firm Johnson and Sundeen. Johnson graduated from College of William and Mary School of Law in 2007.

Kiara Kraus-Parr
Kiara Kraus-Parr is a Grand Forks attorney whose practice focuses on appeals. She ran as a Democrat against Wayne Stenehjem for attorney general of North Dakota in 2014. Kraus-Parr graduated from the UND School of Law and was admitted to practice in North Dakota in 2010.

Judge Lindsey Nieuwsma
Lindsey Nieuwsa is a judge for the South Central Judicial District in Mandan. She was appointed to the bench by Burgum in 2021.

Before becoming a judge, served as the South Central Judicial District judicial referee and magistrate. She also worked in private practice. Nieuwsma earned her law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2010.

Zachary Pelham
Zachary Pelham is an attorney for Pearce Durick whose areas of practice include oil and gas, insurance defense, oil and gas law and labor law. He has worked as a contract attorney for the North Dakota Public Service Commission and formerly worked in the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office as an assistant attorney general specializing in civil litigation. Pelham recently served as chair of the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents. Pelham graduated from the UND School of Law in 2004.

Jacob Rodenbiker
Jacob Rodenbiker is an assistant U.S. Attorney for North Dakota who lives in Fargo. He is a former prosecutor for McKenzie and Burleigh counties and Miami-Dade County, Florida. The committee previously nominated Rodenbiker to be a justice after former Justice Gerald VandeWalle announced his retirement in 2022. Burgum ultimately chose Justice Douglas Bahr to fill the vacancy. Rodenbiker graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2006.

Briana Rummel
Briana Rummel is a Bismarck-based litigator who works for the Vogel Law Firm. According to the firm’s website, she focuses on medical malpractice defense, wrongful death and personal injury. She received her law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2016.

Judge Kirsten Sjue
Kirsten Sjue is a judge for the Northwest Judicial District in Williston. She was appointed to the position in 2015 by former Gov. Jack Dalrymple. Sjue previously served as an assistant state’s attorney for Williams County and worked in private practice, according to the court system’s website. She earned her law degree from the UND School of Law in 2006.

Judge Bonnie Storbakken
Bonnie Storbakken is a judge for the South Central Judicial District in Mandan. She was elected to the position in 2020. She previously served as commissioner of the Department of Labor and Human Rights and legal counsel for Dalrymple. Storbakken graduated from the UND School of Law in 2004.

Ryan Norrell
Ryan Norrell is vice president of government relations for Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Norrell previously served as general counsel for Burgum, as counsel for the North Dakota Public Service Commission and as state’s attorney for LaMoure County. He graduated from the UND School of Law in 2009.

The voting members of the nominating committee are Justice Jerod Tufte, Eric Lahlum, Taylor Olson, Laura Mihalik, Paul Forster and Garth Rydland.

Article written by Mary Steurer