Candidate for North Dakota’s Supreme Court Files Federal Lawsuit Against the Supreme Court

Robert Bolinske is running a campaign for North Dakota’s Supreme Court.

He is also, per a filing earlier this week (see below), suing the state Supreme Court in federal court.

Bolinske also names the state Disciplinary Board for the Supreme Court, former Justice Dale Sandstrom, District Court Judge Gail Haggerty, and two current members of the state Supreme Court including his opponent this election cycle, incumbent Justice Lisa McEvers.

Bolinske alleges he was defamed and denied due process in a disciplinary action against him.

Earlier this year the state Supreme Court upheld a disciplinary action against Bolinske stemming from comments he made about Haggerty and Sandstrom in a bizarre letter during the 2016 election cycle when he was also a candidate.

The defamation part of Bolinske’s claim stems from comments Justice Sandstrom made to me on the record in 2016 about Bolinske’s letter. “Although I’ve been aware of his mental health problems for years, I don’t recall ever having seen anything in his email before,” Sandstrom told me via email at the time. “Official court records are maintained by the Clerk of the Supreme Court. Copies of Supreme Court opinions, briefs in cases scheduled for argument, and docket entries are posted to our website as a public service. No documents on petitions for writs of supervision are placed on our website unless scheduled for oral argument. If a clerk makes an error in a docket entry, it will automatically appear on our website. When it has been corrected, the correction will also automatically appear,” he continued.

Here’s the full filing:

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