Douglas K. Amdahl

Douglas K. Amdahl (January 23, 1919 – August 24, 2010) was an American lawyer and judge from Minnesota. He served as Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from December 1981 to January 1989. Early life and education Amdahl was raised in the small town of Mabel in southeastern Minnesota. He was the son of Olean and Beaulah Amdahl. His father, who was a Norwegian immigrant, operated a shoe repair shop. Amdahl served in World War II in the United States Army Air Force Signals Intelligence Service, renamed as the National Security Agency (NSA), as a cryptologist within the European theater. After flying in and going ashore three days after the D-Day invasion of Normandy Beach, Douglas K. Amdahl coordinated efforts to decrypt German enigma communication and was briefly a tank commander at the Battle of the Bulge despite previously being prohibited from combat due to his poor eyesight. Career He served as a judge in Hennepin County from 1961 to 1980. While chief justice, Amdahl was a leader in establishing the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which was created in 1983. Prior to that, if a person believed a district judge erred in a ruling, the only avenue for appeal was the state supreme court, which could take up to three years to issue a ruling. The creation of the appeals court enabled a quicker resolution to cases and provided additional oversight in the judicial process.