Charles Crane/MDN North Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Jon Jensen, at left, swears in new North Central District Court Judge Steven Lautt, at right, while State Bar Association Governor Debra Hoffarth, center; son Andrew, wife Diane and daughter June Lautt; and District Court Judge Gary Lee look on, Friday, Aug. 22, in Minot.

The Ward County Courthouse and its staff took a pause from its regular proceedings on Friday, Aug. 22, as it welcomed in a new member of the bench of the North Central District Court during the investiture of District Judge Steven Lautt.

Lautt, a Minot native, practiced law as an attorney and shareholder with the Minot law firm of Pringle and Herigstad since 2012, litigating a wide variety of civil cases, and served as general counsel for several regional agriculture and telecommunications cooperatives and a statewide nonprofit organization. Lautt was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Douglas Mattson.

Courtroom 302 was filled with Lautt’s family, colleagues at Pringle and Herigstad law firm, his fellow district court judges, four North Dakota Supreme Court justices and Gov. Kelly Armstrong. District Court Judge Gary Lee opened the proceedings, which he declared was, “a celebration.”

Armstrong delivered the opening remarks, beginning by thanking Mattson for his long and distinguished career on the bench. Armstrong noted Lautt’s appointment was his first as governor of the state of North Dakota, describing him as bright, thoughtful and insightful, and provided a number of comments shared by his colleagues in support of his appointment.

“I am very proud to do this. I know you’ve already been going to work. But I am very happy for you and I’m very happy for the citizens of Ward County,” Armstrong said.

Chief Justice Jon Jensen also thanked Mattson for his years on the bench, describing his judicial career as “remarkable.” Jensen said the work of North Dakota’s 54 judges requires a high workload presiding over 180,000 cases each year, compounded by geographic and subject matter challenges. The North Central District covers Burke, Mountrail and Ward counties.

“Judge Lautt, it’s going to be challenging, and you knew that going in and that’s one of the reasons I thank you for accepting the obligation to serve the citizens of this judicial district,” Jensen said. “Judge Lautt will be sent out to decide family law disputes. You’ll be deciding juvenile cases. You’ll be deciding criminal cases all the way from murders down to misdemeanors. He’ll be trying to resolve complex civil disputes, and every type of case you can think of in between. He has to become familiar with all those subject areas and be able to make decisions in all those different areas of law.”

Jensen said Lautt’s background left no doubt he would be able to meet those challenges.

Jensen swore Lautt in as he took his oath of office, accompanied by his wife, Diane, and children June and Andrew Lautt. Mattson presented Lautt and helped him into his robe, before Lautt was given his gavel by N.D. State Bar Association Governor Debra Hoffarth.

Lautt provided remarks of his own, thanking Armstrong for the opportunity to serve the community his family has called home for generations.

Lautt thanked his parents for supporting him in his pursuit of his interests and passions. He also acknowledged his wife Diane, saying, “with all due respect to the chief justice, the governor, the many skilled lawyers who are here today, there is a finer lawyer in the room today.”

Lautt then brought the attendants attention to the many portraits of past judges lining the hallway of the atrium outside the courtroom, two of which he personally had historical connections with, including Judge Roy Ilvedson and Judge Kalita Leighton.

Lautt said his family uncovered a letter from Ilvedson when he was Ward County State’s Attorney to his great-grandfather Cicero Vannett chastising him for holding an unsanctioned dance in South Prairie. As for Leighton, Lautt observed the judge had presided over the trial of the man convicted of the attempted murder of his great-grandmother Alma Nelson with a pitchfork in 1916.

Lautt said these stories illustrated the cascade of historical events and accidents over which we have no control, bringing us irrevocably to the present.

“That is I think the central idea on which our system is built. The laws we set up for ourselves are aiding and protecting those rights because we know how much of a tragedy it is for someone to be deprived of those rights. It is only when those rights are secured and protected that people can truly be free to achieve their true potential,” Lautt said. “I think there is a basic humility that is baked into our system. That humility is the recognition that my rights are no greater or more important than anyone else. I don’t have any greater claim on the blessings of liberty than anyone else. It’s that humility that makes our system totally unique.”

Lautt said our system is meant to reinforce the inherent worth and value, and all are equal based on the facts and the law.

“I believe so deeply in the goodness and greatness of our Constitution, and of our system of justice. Our system is not perfect. It requires thoughtful care and tending, but it is altogether excellent and worthy of preserving,” Lautt said. “The oath I take today is solemn, it’s sobering, and I know some days will feel like a heavy burden. But I take it with joy and with a full heart, grateful to those who fought to establish the rule of law. I’m very thankful to those who preserve it for us and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity to play a part in preserving it for generations to come.”