Mary Muehlen Maring was a justice on the North Dakota Supreme Court. She was first appointed to the court in 1996 by Republican Governor Ed Schafer and was re-elected to a 10-year term on November 4, 2008. Maring retired from the court on December 31, 2013.[1][2]
Maring received her undergraduate degree in political science and German from Moorhead State University in 1972 and her J.D. from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1975.[3]
Maring was re-elected to the court after running unopposed.[5]
Maring was re-elected to a 10-year term on the North Dakota Supreme Court in 1998.[4]
On November 5, 1996, Maring was elected to the North Dakota Supreme Court to complete the term to which she was appointed by Governor Ed Schafer.[4]
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Maring received a campaign finance score of 0.77, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was less conservative than the average score of 1.00 that justices received in North Dakota.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[6]
Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of North Dakota • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of North Dakota
State courts:
North Dakota Supreme Court • North Dakota Court of Appeals • North Dakota District Courts • North Dakota Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in North Dakota • North Dakota judicial elections • Judicial selection in North Dakota