South Central District Judge John Grinsteiner ’98, announces retirement
Bismarck Tribune: Bismarck native John Grinsteiner’s last day on the bench is Aug. 20. He notified North Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Jon Jensen and South Central District Presiding Judge Bruce Romanick in a June 21 letter.
“After 18 years of wearing a judicial robe, first as a judicial referee/magistrate and then as a district judge, the time has come for me to make a change and pursue other opportunities,” Grinsteiner said in his retirement letter.
Grinsteiner in 1998 earned a law degree from the University of North Dakota. He was in private practice until 2003 and then served as a judicial referee and magistrate in the South Central District until 2015. Gov. Jack Dalrymple appointed him to the judgeship that year, and voters chose him in the 2018 election. He’s chambered in Mandan.
A comment period on the vacancy will be open until July 12, said Petra Mandigo Hulm, clerk of the Supreme Court. Court administration will present the justices with statewide caseload data. Based on that data and the comments, the position could be transferred to another location or abolished. That hasn’t happened in some time, Mandigo Hulm said. The justices have 90 days to make that decision.
A judicial nominating committee would then have 60 days to present to Gov. Doug Burgum a list of at least two but no more than seven candidates to succeed Grinsteiner. Burgum will have 30 days to make an appointment from that list, Mandigo Hulm said.
