BISMARCK – District Court Judge Jerod Tufte declared his candidacy for the North Dakota Supreme Court on Thursday, the week after Justice Dale Sandstrom announced he would not seek re-election after 24 years on the high court.
Gov. Jack Dalrymple appointed Tufte to the Southeast Judicial District bench in 2014. Before that, Tufte served as the governor’s legal counsel for three years.
Tufte is a North Dakota native and a 2002 graduate of the Arizona State University College of Law. He has worked in private practice, as a state’s attorney in Kidder and Sheridan counties and as a law clerk with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He’s also served as a judge advocate in the North Dakota Army National Guard.
Tufte, who has a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and worked as a software engineer for Motorola, said in a statement that he hopes to build on Sandstrom’s work in improving court access through technology.
Sandstrom’s retirement leaves an open Supreme Court seat on the ballot for the first time in 24 years.
