in 1919 from the University of Minnesota after having interrupted his schooling in 1918 to serve as a commissioned officer in the United States Field Artillery.

Shortly before he died, Franklin D. Roosevelt had appointed Judge Gallagher to serve on the United States District Court, but U.S.

Thomas Francis Gallagher was elected as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1943, and re-elected thereafter until his retirement in 1967.

During his twenty-four years on the Court, Judge Gallagher participated in more than 4,000 decisions and personally wrote over 600 majority and dissenting opinions.

His law clerks who later obtained prominence include Harry M. Walsh, Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, and Walter F. Mondale, Vice President of the United States.

When the Court was in recess, Judge Gallagher served on Presidential Emergency Boards created by President Harry S. Truman to avert railway strikes.