October 3, 1962

In 1962 Rosalie Wahl entered Mitchell School of Law. In 1977 Governor Rudy Perpich appointed Wahl to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Rosalie’s appointment was significant as she was the first woman jurist to sit on the state’s highest court. While on the Supreme Court, Wahl served as its liaison to the Court’s Study Commission on the Mentally Disabled and also chaired its task forces on gender fairness and racial bias. Wahl remained on the court for seventeen years until she retired in 1994 at the mandatory age of 70.

A book chronicling the career history of former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Rosalie E. Wahl will be presented to the state law library. Justice Wahl was the first woman in state history to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The book, which will be catalogued in the state law library’s Special Collections Room, includes Justice Wahl’s personal papers, a bibliography of the Justice’s court opinions and an essay written by a legal scholar that evaluates the impact of the honoree’s decisions in the development of Minnesota law. Tributes, lectures, news articles and photographs are also included in the book.

Thanks to Mr. Gunderson’s 6th grade class at Virginia-Roosevelt Elementary School for the research on October’s Day in History.

Thanks also to Minnesota’s Learn and Serve America Service Learning Program for their help.

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