Alexander M. Keith

Infobox Senator | name=The Honorable Alexander MacDonald Keith
nationality=American


jr/sr and state=Chief Justice, Minnesota
party= Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
term= 1990–1998
preceded=Peter S. Popovich
succeeded=Kathleen A. Blatz
date of birth= Birth date and age|1928|11|22|mf=y
place of birth= Rochester, Minnesota
dead=alive
date of death=
place of death=
spouse= Marion E. Sanford

Alexander MacDonald (Sandy) Keith (born November 22, 1928) is a former Minnesota state senator, lieutenant governor, and state supreme court chief justice.

Personal life

Sandy Keith was born in Rochester, Minnesota to Norman M. Keith and Edna (Alexander) Keith. His father was a physician who practiced medicine at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic.

He married Marion E. Sanford April 29, 1955.

Education and military service

Keith graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College in 1950, and from Yale Law School in 1953. He then served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War.

Public life and politics

After returning to his hometown of Rochester, Minnesota, Keith took a job as counsel with the Mayo Clinic, where he worked with future United States Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.

In 1959 he was elected to the Minnesota State Senate as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. During his tenure as a State Senator, Keith served as a delegate to the 1960 Democratic National Convention. He was Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota under Governor Karl Rolvaag from 1963 until 1967. In 1989 Keith began serving as a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court. He became Chief Justice in 1990 and served in that capacity until 1998. While serving as Chief Justice (having been appointed to the position by (then) Governor Rudy Perpich, Keith handed down a ruling that allowed Arne Carlson onto the ballot after the previously endorsed candidate stepped out of the race for cavorting in a swimming pool with minor girls. Carlson eventually won the election, with Perpich and others blaming Keith for the loss.

Return to private sector

After retiring from the Minnesota Supreme Court, Keith returned to private practice at Dunlap & Seeger in Rochester where he concentrates on mediating civil and family law disputes. He self-identifies as a Democrat, but currently serves on the board for the conservative Center of the American Experiment and is outspoken in his endorsement of Republican candidates and policies.

References

*http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/keith.html
*http://www.dunlaplaw.com/attorneys/attorney_detail.aspx?itemID=305&catID=4
* [http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=12110 Minnesota Legislators Past and Present]