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TOM CRANN: I'm Tom Crann on a Friday afternoon with All Things Considered from Minnesota Public Radio News. Governor Mark Dayton broke a diversity barrier today with his selection of Margaret Chutich as the newest Minnesota Supreme Court justice. Chutich will be the high court's first openly gay member. And while Dayton says that didn't drive his pick, Chuditch says the symbolism helps the courts reflect the community.

MARGARET CHUTICH: I think if there are gay attorneys, gay people thinking about going to law school, I think, it's important that they know there aren't barriers to their dreams.

TOM CRANN: To talk more about the newest Supreme Court justice pick, we welcome Brian Bakst the newest member of Minnesota Public Radio's political team, to the studio. Welcome, Brian. Good to have you here.

BRIAN BAKST: Hey. Thanks for having me, Tom.

TOM CRANN: So why was there an opening on the court in the first place? Remind us of that. And how did the governor decide on Judge Chutich?

BRIAN BAKST: Well, this is the fourth time that Dayton has got to put a member on the state's highest court. This one came about because one of his prior picks, Justice Wilhelmina Wright, was confirmed this week for a federal judgeship by the US Senate. In Judge Chutich, he said he's been impressed by her in the time she's been on the Court of Appeals. He put her there in 2011. He noted that she's been involved in more than 600 cases and written 200 opinions while there.

TOM CRANN: Did he signal that he set out to make a ground-breaking pick here.

BRIAN BAKST: It almost didn't come up during the press conference until the question period. And then he mentioned that he was aware of her background, but it wasn't the driving force. He does consider diversity to be a priority.

He mentions that. He's named three women to the court, two of whom were African-American. But he says he would have picked Judge Chutich anyway because he had reviewed her application and interviewed with her for a prior opening last summer.

TOM CRANN: Do we know of any other states where there have been gay members of the state's top court?

BRIAN BAKST: Yeah, there are about a handful of states around the country-- Oregon, Colorado, Vermont, Hawaii, Massachusetts, where there have been gay members of the court. Oregon, in fact, has had two.

TOM CRANN: So today, obviously, it's groundbreaking. It makes news. But is there any circumstance under which Judge Chutich's sexual orientation would actually play a role in a case that would come before the court. And I suppose we should add there that it's not a question we would typically even ask of a heterosexual appointee.

BRIAN BAKST: Gay marriage has been legal in Minnesota since 2013. And while the US Supreme Court has made it the law of the land around the country, there are still cases in which gay rights come up, and accommodations for gay people have come up before the courts. But that's not to say we know how she would rule in those cases or that the other justices would have a particular bias the other way. I think what she has been saying is that it just provides receptivity to different types of arguments, different types of audiences that come before the court.

TOM CRANN: And personally, judge Chutich today talked about the complexion, as it were, makeup of courts over the years and why it actually matters and how it's affected her personally.

BRIAN BAKST: Yeah, she told the story about as a young lawyer way back in the Rudy Perpich days, she appeared before the state Supreme court, which at the time had a majority of women members, including the chief justice. And she said that made it feel welcoming to her as a young female attorney in a way that other courtrooms she had appeared in weren't.

TOM CRANN: Let's talk a little more about her first. What other judicial or legal experience does she have?

BRIAN BAKST: Yeah, she has previously served as assistant Dean at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School. She served a time as a deputy in the state attorney general's office. She was a federal prosecutor. She's done work as a clerk for federal judges. So her experience is pretty broad.

TOM CRANN: So that's her professional resume. What did we learn about her personally today?

BRIAN BAKST: Well, she's a native Minnesotan, but she let it known that she's fluent in Croatian. And she even rolled out a few lines and said that she knows some Croatian curse words, didn't share any of those. She said she promised her dad she wouldn't.

TOM CRANN: OK.

BRIAN BAKST: Her wife is a power player in the Minnesota health care industry, and the couple has a teenage daughter. Governor Dayton slipped in that she was a Big Ten champion singles tennis player while she was at the University of Minnesota. And that provided an opening for Chief Justice Lorie Gildea to say, as the junior member, it's going to be up to her to give pointers to the other Supreme Court justices.

TOM CRANN: Now, her appointment leaves a vacancy on the appeals court, doesn't it?

BRIAN BAKST: It does, but Dayton moved quickly to fill that as well. He selected Hennepin County Judge Diane Bradfield for that opening. He previously picked her for the Hennepin County spot in 2014. She had a long career in private practice before the bench, and now she'll just slide right into that role.

TOM CRANN: Covering politics for us Brian Bakst, thanks so much. And again, welcome to MPR News.

BRIAN BAKST: Thanks, Tom. Looking forward to doing more.