MINNEAPOLIS, MN (August 26, 2009) – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar has named Thomas L. Johnson, a principal with the Minneapolis-based law firm of Gray Plant Mooty, to a bipartisan Judicial Selection Committee to assist her in making a recommendation to President Barack Obama to fill the vacancy on Minnesota’s Federal District Court created by Judge James Rosenbaum’s decision to assume senior status.

In announcing the formation of the Judicial Selection Committee, Klobuchar said: “I look forward to the advice and counsel of these distinguished members of Minnesota's legal community. Federal judges are appointed for life, which makes it all the more critical that these individuals be fair-minded, have impeccable integrity, and take seriously their obligation to apply the law fairly. I am looking for someone with a deep knowledge of the law, a wide breadth of professional experience, and an excellent judicial temperament. Judge Rosenbaum has served Minnesota well for more than two decades, and we are lucky that we will still have the benefit of his service when he takes senior status this fall. I have no doubt that, with this committee’s help, we will find an outstanding replacement that will carry on the fine work that Judge Rosenbaum has done for many years.”

Johnson served as president of the Council on Crime and Justice from 1999 to 2008, as Hennepin County Attorney from 1979 to 1991, and on the Minneapolis City Council from 1973 to 1977. He resumed his full-time practice at Gray Plant Mooty in 2008, focusing primarily in the areas of environmental and land use law, government relations, public law, and finance. Johnson has served on the board of directors for numerous state and national organizations and is the recipient of many awards, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Quality Award, the President’s Award from the National District Attorney’s Association, the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Professional Excellence Award, the Council on Crime and Justice’s 2008 Equal Justice Award, and the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers’ 2008 Profiles in Courage Award.

Joining Johnson on the Judicial Selection Committee are co-chairs Tom Sullivan, provost for the University of Minnesota and former dean of the University of Minnesota School of Law, and Ellen Luger, an attorney and executive director of the General Mills Foundation. Other committee members include Russell Anderson, former chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court; Leo Brisbois, president of the Minnesota State Bar Association; R. Ann Huntrods, an attorney with an extensive federal practice; former Minnesota District Court Judge Carol Person; and Chief Judge Edward Toussaint Jr. of the Minnesota Court of Appeals.