WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) today announced that President Biden nominated Jerry Blackwell to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Blackwell has more than three decades of legal experience and was unanimously supported by the judicial selection committee Senators Klobuchar and Smith convened to make recommendations. 

“Jerry Blackwell is widely respected and loved within the Minnesota legal community. His extensive trial experience – including the successful prosecution of the murder of George Floyd – makes him an excellent choice to be a U.S. District Court Judge. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to confirm him,” said Klobuchar.

“With more than three decades of legal experience, Jerry Blackwell is exceptionally well-qualified to be a U.S. District Court Judge,” said Smith. “I am confident that his experience and commitment to equal justice will make him an excellent federal judge. I want to congratulate him on his nomination and I look forward to working with my colleagues to confirm him to this post.”

Blackwell was appointed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to serve as a Special Assistant Attorney General during the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. Since 2005, he has also worked as a founding partner of Blackwell Burke P.A., where he has litigated numerous complex litigation cases in federal and state courts in 47 states. Blackwell is active in the Minnesota legal community as the founder of the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers and the Twin Cities Committee on Minority Lawyers in Large Law Firms. He received his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984, where he was a Morehead Scholar, and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1987. 

Jerry Blackwell was among three well-qualified candidates recommended by the judicial selection committee, which included Alan Page, former Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court and Assistant Attorney General; Leslie Beiers, Assistant Chief Judge of the Minnesota Sixth Judicial District and former Assistant St. Louis County Attorney; Arielle Wagner, Associate at Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP and President of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association; Miguel Pozo, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Compliance Officer of Minnesota Community Care, and former President of the Hispanic National Bar Association; and Peter Knapp, Professor and former interim president and dean at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

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