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Category: Judicial Appointments

MAIBA Congratulates Keala Ede’s Appointment as a Judge in the Fourth Judicial District

On February 24, 2022 Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Flanagan announced the appointment of Keala Ede as a District Court Judge in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District. This seats will be chambered in Minneapolis in Hennepin County. MAIBA would like to congratulate Keala on his appointment!

Mr. Ede will be replacing the Honorable Martha A. Holton Dimick.

“I am also proud to appoint Mr. Ede to the Fourth Judicial District,” said Governor Walz. “As an Assistant Federal Defender, he works every day to ensure that the people of Minnesota receive adequate representation when they come before the court. The compassion and empathy that he has gained through his legal career will make him a great judge.”

“Mr. Ede—Minnesota’s first Native Hawaiian judge—has committed his career to working for people,” said Lieutenant Governor Flanagan. “His commitment to ensuring that our justice system treats everyone fairly and equitably will serve him well as a judge.”

Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District encompasses Hennepin County.

About Keala Ede

Mr. Ede is an Assistant Federal Defender in the Office of the Federal Defender in Minneapolis. He represents clients charged with a wide variety of federal criminal offenses. Mr. Ede previously served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office where he prosecuted both criminal Medicaid fraud and civil consumer fraud. He was also a Judicial Law Clerk for Ret. Justice Steven H. Levinson of the Hawai’i Supreme Court. His community involvement includes volunteering for the Federal Practice Committee, the Federal Court “Open Doors” project, and the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association Scholarship Committee. He also is a community youth sports coach. Mr. Ede earned his B.A. from Occidental College and J.D. from the University of California, Berkley School of Law.

MAIBA Congratulates Sarah Wheelock’s Appointment as a Judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals

On November 17, 2021, Governor Tim Walk announced the appointment of Sarah Wheelock as a Judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals. MAIBA would like to congratulate Sarah on her appointment!

Sarah, an attorney for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, will become the first Native American judge to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals!

She will replace the retiring Judge Carol Hooten in a seat designated for the Second Congressional District.

“In her time serving as legal counsel for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and tribes across the nation, Ms. Wheelock has repeatedly shown that she is a dedicated public servant committed to advancing the common good,” Walz said in a statement Friday. “She is well prepared to join the Court of Appeals.”

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan called Wheelock a “brilliant legal mind with a deep understanding of the laws of the land” and cited her “life experience, longstanding service to her community, and her extensive legal background” as providing a “unique perspective that will be invaluable in her new position.”

Before becoming legal counsel for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Prior Lake, Wheelock also worked as an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline College of Law and as an appellate judge for the White Earth Band of Chippewa Court of Appeals.

Wheelock is a member of the Meskwaki Nation, which is federally recognized as the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. She earned her bachelor of arts and juris doctor degrees from the University of Iowa and is a member and past president of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association. She also is a member of the National Native American and Federal Bar associations.