Robert Joseph Sheran[1] (January 2, 1916 – January 25, 2012) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court by Governor Wendell Anderson, serving from December 1973 to December 1981. He previously served as an associate justice on the court from January 1963 to July 1970, appointed by Governor Elmer L. Andersen.[2] He is the only person to have been appointed to two separate tenures on the Minnesota Supreme Court by different governors.[3]
A Democrat, Sheran was appointed to the Supreme Court by Republican Gov. Elmer L. Andersen, who called him "one of the greatest jurists in state history".[4] Sheran resigned from the court in 1970, in part because he was unable to pay his children's college tuition on a justice's $20,000 salary.[5] In 1973, he accepted an appointment to replace Oscar R. Knutson as chief justice by DFL Gov. Wendell Anderson, who later called Sheran his best appointment.[5] After retiring from the court in 1981, Sheran practiced with the Minneapolis firm of Lindquist & Vennum for 20 years. He was also instrumental in organizing the Minnesota Court of Appeals after its creation in 1982.
In 2007, Sheran was named by Minnesota Law and Politics magazine as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the history of the state.[3]
