NEW ULM – “Once you take the oath (as a judge), politics should go out the door,” according to Associate Supreme Court Justice David Lillehaug.

And yet, Lillehaug was in New Ulm last week, doing what justices do every couple of years, giving interviews and meeting people as they run for re-election.

Lillehaug was appointed to the Supreme Court in June 2013, picked to replace Justice Paul Anderson. Lillehaug said his appointment followed a rigorous vetting process by the non-partisan Judicial Selection Committee, which reviews applicants for judicial appointments and selects three finalists for the governor.

“They review everything you’ve done, your education, cases you’ve worked on. By the time they’re done they know you pretty well,” said Lillehaug.

Lillehaug believes that the duty of the judiciary is to be a non-partisan, objective interpreter of the laws and the constitutions of the U.S. and the state.

“The (U.S.) Constitution set up three branches of government. Two of them (the legislative and the executive branch) are political, but the Judicial Branch is supposed to be non-political,” he said.

Minnesota’s constitution does call for judges to be elected, but in practice, most judges are appointed after a sitting judge retires. Few judges face re-election challenges.

Up until recent years, the Minnesota Supreme Court set rules for judicial elections that forbid judicial candidates from seeking political endorsements, or from campaigning by saying how they would rule on issues that might come before them. In recent years, however, those rules have been challenged, and the U.S. Supreme Court has them struck down, opening the door to political parties endorsing judicial candidates and allowing judges more leeway in their campaigning.

Lillehaug said he will not seek political endorsement, and maintains his objectivity and impartiality by not saying how he views issues.

His challenger in this election is Michelle McDonald, a family law attorney from the Twin Cities, who won the Republican endorsement (the DFL does not endorse judicial candidates), despite her arrest in April 2013 on suspicion of DWI. McDonald refused to allow a breathalyzer test or blood test to be taken. She was convicted in September of test refusal and resisting arrest.

Lillehaug campaigns on his background, which includes growing up in Sioux Falls, S.D., where his father taught music at Augustina College. He attended Augustana, then Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude in 1979.

Lillehaug was later appointed to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, a post he held from 1994 to 1998, when he stepped down to run for Minnesota Attorney General. He was unsuccessful, losing to Mike Hatch in the DFL primary. He also sought the nomination for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2000, but dropped out after failing to win the endorsement.

Lillehaug said he enjoys his work on the Minnesota Supreme Court, deciding a variety of cases and working with the six other members of the court.