Thornton seeking election to District Judgeship
Attorney Nick Thornton will seek election to the Southeast Judicial District Judgeship Number 2 with initial placement on the June primary ballot. Judgeship Number 2 is currently held by the Honorable Mark Blumer, Judge of the District Court, who will not be seeking re-election to another term.
The Southeast Judicial District includes Barnes, Dickey, Eddy, Foster, Griggs, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McIntosh, Ransom, Richland,
Sargent, Stutsman and Wells counties. Judgeship Number 2 is responsible for 10 percent of the case assignments in Stutsman County, 100 percent of the case assignments in Sargent and
Ransom counties, and 25 percent of the master calendar days in Stutsman, Dickey, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan and McIntosh counties.
Thornton grew up in Jamestown, graduating from Jamestown High School in 1998. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Minnesota State University Moorhead, his law degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law, where he graduated with distinction and Order of the Coif honors, his MBA from the
University of Mary, and has attended graduate school at the University of North Dakota in pursuit of a PhD in Criminal Justice. Thornton is a graduate of the Trial Practice Institute at the National Criminal Defense College, in Macon, Georgia.
After law school, Thornton clerked for Justice Carol Ronning Kapsner at the North Dakota Supreme Court. He worked as a full-time public defender. Since 2013, he has been in private practice, where his practice areas include criminal defense, juvenile law, administrative law, family law, business law, and general civil litigation. Thornton has represented well over 4,000 individuals across the State of North Dakota charged with crimes ranging from driving under suspension to murder.
Thornton is admitted to practice law in North Dakota and Minnesota. He is also admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Districts of North Dakota and Minnesota, as well as the United
States Courts of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.
Thornton resides in Mapleton with his wife and two children, where he serves as a member of the Mapleton City Council, Defense Bar Representative of an Adult Drug Court, the Chair of the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards, and volunteer wrestling coach.
The primary election will be held on June 14, 2022. The general election will occur on November 8, 2022.