Excellence is her bench mark

Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz, alumna and donor, talks about her career in public service

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz

Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Supreme Court

by Jodi Auvin

From M, winter 2003

"I've always loved two things," says Kathleen Blatz, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. "Public service and law."

Blatz, who grew up in Bloomington, comes by these passions naturally. Her father, a state legislator and attorney, and her mother, a social worker, encouraged their seven daughters, two sons, and two foster children to be the best they could be. It was advice Blatz clearly took to heart. She's the first woman in Minnesota history to hold the position of chief justice.

After her undergraduate work at Notre Dame, she earned a masters in social work at the University in 1978. In 1979, she started the first employee assistance program at Fairview Hospital and began her career in public service. Blatz was elected to eight terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives, where she championed children's issues, including authoring the "cocaine baby law."

In 1981, in a move Blatz describes as "more natural than intentional," she entered law school, graduating cum laude from the University in 1984. She has made contributions regularly to various U programs ever since.

"Minnesota is blessed with great law schools. I chose the U of M because of its excellent reputation and because professors didn't take attendance," she says with a laugh. "No, truth is, I rarely missed a class, but I did try to keep a low profile, no small task, given that seats were assigned alphabetically and the Bs were near the front of the room. One day in class, a professor who knew I was in the legislature said, 'Let's hear from the horse's mouth.' I just about died, it was so intimidating. But I learned a lot from him."

After law school, Blatz worked as an attorney in private practice and prosecuted child protection cases in Hennepin County. She became a district court judge in 1994, was named associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1996, and then chief justice in 1998.

"I like the work because it's so important," says Blatz. "One of our top priorities is the Children's Justice Initiative, to help move children out of foster care and into permanent homes more quickly. While the courts don't cause child neglect in the first place, what we do as a system can help or hurt children. This initiative is trying to see the system through the eyes of children. It's no easy task, but it's worth it."

Blatz cites reading as the "thread of consistency" in her work.

"Supreme Court judges hear oral arguments, we conference, we do a lot of writing," she says. "It seems every day of the year involves reading, which greatly facilitates decision making."

Reading is also one of Blatz's hobbies, as are swimming, walking, and seeing movies. Another hobby, baking, is well documented by the media.

"What isn't well documented," she notes with a smile, "is my penchant for eating. It's a simple law of capitalism: supply and demand."

Blatz's term as chief justice ends in 2007.

"I haven't thought about what I'll do afterwards," she comments. "Right now I'm focused on the tremendous challenges in front of me. I'm as excited as ever about working on solutions."