Justice Dale V. Sandstrom marks 20 years on the North Dakota Supreme Court, Monday, December 31, 2012. He is the eighth longest-serving justice in state history.
Justice Dale V. Sandstrom marks 20 years on the North Dakota Supreme Court, Monday, December 31, 2012. He is the eighth longest-serving justice in state history.
Justice Sandstrom was elected to the Court at the November 1992 general election. He was a state Public Service Commissioner at the time. Because he was elected to fill an unexpired term on the Court, he was entitled to take office as soon as the State Canvassing Board certified the election results, but he waited to take office until the Public Service Commission decided a pending major rate case, which it did on December 31, 1992.
Justice Sandstrom is a fifth-generation North Dakotan. He was born in Grand Forks and attended the Fargo school system. He received his B.A. degree from North Dakota State University, and in 1975 received his juris doctor degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law.
He worked for the United States Senate under Senator Milton R. Young, served on the staff of the North Dakota Criminal Justice Commission, and served as an Assistant Attorney General for six years, heading the Consumer Fraud and Antitrust Division. In 1981, Governor Allen I. Olson named him State Securities Commissioner. Effective May 5, 1983, he was appointed to the Public Service Commission. In 1984 and 1990 he was elected to six-year terms on the Commission, and he served two terms as President of the Commission.
He assumed office as Justice of the Supreme Court on December 31, 1992. He was reelected to ten-year terms in 1996 and in 2006. Justice Sandstrom is a graduate of the National Judicial College. He has chaired the Court Technology Committee and the North Dakota Advisory Commission on Cameras in the Courtroom and is a member of the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards. He is past chair of the North Dakota Judicial Conference, the North Dakota Judges Association, and the Joint Procedure Committee.
In 1996, he created the Court's award-winning website. On April 11, 2011, North Dakota became the first state in the nation to have its entire trial court system on an electronic record system.
He is married to District Judge Gail Hagerty. They have three children.
December 28, 2012