Posted at: 09/19/2012 4:04 PM
Updated at: 09/19/2012 4:08 PM

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Minnesota Chief Justice Trying to Fix Court Backlogs

(ABC 6 News) -- Tuesday our crews caught up with Chief Justice Lorie Gildea who was in Rochester for a meeting.

Since her appointment in 2010, the Chief Justice has advocated for finding ways to help judicial districts reduce the number of cases on their backlogs.

One of those ways is to pay retired judges to come in and handle some of the lower-level cases.

"We all believe to our core that we have an obligation to administer justice fairly and impartially and so you take the cases and you handle the work that you need to do," said Chief Justice Lorie Gilea.

Since last year, the Olmsted County court has been swamped with an ever-growing load of cases and not enough judges to take them.

In the past the backlog meant a trial date could have taken more than a year. Now that waiting period is down to three months.