Supreme Court Justice Scalia to preside over Patrick Schiltz’s investiture as federal judge
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Sen. Norm Coleman (R.-Minn.) and more than 750 members of the Twin Cities legal community, family and friends will be present at the University of St. Thomas School of Law on Friday, Sept. 22, at an invitation-only ceremony marking Patrick Schiltz’s investiture as a federal judge.
President George W. Bush nominated Schiltz, former associate dean of the law school, in December 2005 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination in May.
A native of Duluth, Schiltz is a graduate of the College of St. Scholastica and Harvard Law School. After serving as a law clerk to Scalia, Schiltz practiced law for eight years at Faegre & Benson, Minnesota's second-largest law firm. He left practice in 1995 to join the faculty of the University of Notre Dame Law School. In 2000, Schiltz accepted an invitation from Father Dennis Dease to return to Minnesota and help establish the new law school at St. Thomas. Schiltz is one of seven federal trial judges in Minnesota and maintains his chambers in the Warren E. Burger Federal Building in St. Paul.
Schiltz took office on May 30, and the investiture ceremony is a celebration of his new role. Scalia, who will arrive at the law school earlier on Friday, will meet with members of the Federalist Society and have lunch with students and staff of the law school before the 3 p.m. ceremony.
In addition to Scalia and Coleman, other speakers at the investiture include Judge James Rosenbaum, chief judge of the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, who will welcome the guests; the Most Rev. Harry Flynn, archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who will give the invocation; attorney John French, former managing partner of the Faegre & Benson law firm; and Patricia O’Hara, dean of the Notre Dame Law School.
Scalia will administer the oath of office at the ceremony, and Schiltz’s children will “robe” him. Schiltz and his wife, Elizabeth Schiltz, a St. Thomas law professor, have four children.
