Theodora Gaïtas

Theodora Gaïtas (born 1970 or 1971) is an American lawyer and jurist. Since 2024, she has served as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. She served from 2020 to 2024 as a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals and from 2018 to 2020 as a district court judge in the Fourth Judicial District (Hennepin County). In 2026, Governor Tim Walz selected her to become the next chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Education

Gaïtas attended the American Community School of Athens for elementary, middle, and high school, graduating in 1987. She earned a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota in 1991 and a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1994.

Career During law school, Gaïtas served as a law clerk in the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. After graduating, she worked as a public defender in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, from 1994 to 1996. In 1996, she returned to Minnesota, serving as a clerk for Judge Robert H. Schumacher of the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Gaïtas then worked as an assistant public defender in the Office of the Minnesota Appellate Public Defender from 1998 to 2013. From 2013 to 2018, Gaïtas was in private practice at Matonich Law.

In 2018, Governor Mark Dayton appointed Gaïtas as a district court judge in the Fourth Judicial District (Hennepin County District Court). She served as a district court judge from September 12, 2018, to August 24, 2020. She took office on August 24, 2020, succeeding John Rodenberg, and was elected in 2022. Gaïtas served as an appellate judge from 2020 to 2024, succeeded by Elizabeth Bentley.

On April 22, 2024, Walz announced his intent to appoint Gaïtas to the Minnesota Supreme Court. She was sworn in as an associate justice on August 1, 2024. Gaïtas is only the second person (after Wilhelmina Wright) to have served as a judge on every level of Minnesota's judicial system, having served as a district court judge, a court of appeals judge, and Minnesota Supreme Court justice. She will be the first to serve on all three levels and also as the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

On May 19, 2026, Walz announced his intent to appoint Gaïtas as the chief justice of Minnesota. She is to take office on September 30, 2026.

Personal life

Gaïtas's father is a Greek immigrant, and her mother is American. Born in Minnesota, she spent her childhood in Athens and returned to Minnesota for college. She is the widow of Chris Sur, who died in 2023; they have a daughter.