Laura Provinzino – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

Minnesota prosecutor Laura Provinzino has prosecuted a number of extremely serious sexual assault and human trafficking cases throughout her career, including the prosecution of “Minnesota’s Jeffrey Epstein.” She is now poised to join the federal bench.

Background

Born in 1975 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Provinzino attended Lewis & Clark College, receiving a B.A. in 1998. She then attended Oxford University and then Yale University Law School, graduating in 2003.

After graduation, Provinzino clerked for Judge Diana Murphy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She then spent two years as a Wellstone legal fellow with The Advocates for Human Rights and then joined the Minneapolis office of Robins Kaplan LLP as a litigation associate. In 2010, Provinzino left the firm to become a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, where she currently serves.

History of the Seat

Provinzino has been nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to replace Judge Wilhemina Wright, who resigned from the bench on February 15, 2024.

Legal Career

Provinzino began her legal career as a litigation associate at Robins Kaplan LLP, where she worked on civil litigation. Notably, Provinzino notably represented the parents of a disabled child who suffered significant physical abuse in a suit against the Mayo Clinic for their failure to fulfill their mandatory reporting requirements after getting news of the abuse. See Becker v. Mayo Found., 737 N.W.2d 200 (Minn. 2007) (Anderson, J.). The case concluded with a jury trial that ended in a verdict for the Mayo Clinic.

In 2010, Provinzino shifted to become a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, where she worked in the Major Crimes Division. See, e.g., United States v. Mathis, 992 F.3d 686 (8th Cir. 2021). While with the office, Provinzino worked as the office’s coordinator of the Project Safe Childhood, which worked to prosecute the sexual exploitation of children, and then as the coordinator for human trafficking prosecutions. Notably, Provinzino prosecuted Anton Lazzaro, also known as Minnesota’s “Jeffrey Epstein.” See Kirsten Swanson, Meet the Woman Who Prosecuted ‘Minnesota’s Jeffrey Epstein’, KSTP.com, Sept. 12, 2023, https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/meet-the-women-who-prosecuted-minnesotas-jeffrey-epstein/. Provinzino also argued appeals during her time with the office, successfully defending convictions for the trafficking of a juvenile male from the Dominican Republic for work in a restaurant. See United States v. Sukhtipyaroge, 1 F.4th 603 (8th Cir. 2021).

Political Activity

Provinzino has made a number of political donations throughout her career, all to Democrats.

Overall Assessment

Minnesota prosecutor Laura Provinzino has had a career that parallels that of U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan, who was, like Provinzino, an associate at Robins Kaplan LLP and a federal prosecutor. Bryan was confirmed comfortably and, it appears, despite a closing window, that Provinzino should as well.

201 Comments

  1. keystone's avatar

    With her mostly being the nominee, she’ll be getting a lot more press coverage. Anytime she has to break a tie on a judicial vote, it’ll prob get some more attention in the next few months. This could bring a bit more importance to the judges issue.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. keystone's avatar

    @Frank

    I’m not sure how things were done in your day but online enthusiasm was a pretty important component of both the Obama and the Trump campaign victories.

    Whether or not it’s real like, the fact of the matter is that you have thousands and thousands of people fueling and responding to conversation and creating memes and contents… which are essentially ads. In many ways it’s the modern day equivalent of yard signs.

    And even if you you’re dismissive of online conversations (which is kind of funny giving the fact that we’re on this blog) I gave other examples of fundraising numbers picking up and of bars adding Kamala themed drink specials as some real life signs of people getting excited.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Jamie's avatar

      TBH, I thought you were being sarcastic regarding the online enthusiasm and drink specials about Harris (especially from BernieBros). If these things are true, that’s great news for Harris.

      But we need to completely reject the idea of a divisive “open convention” or other ideas. Harris needs to be the nominee TODAY, and she needs to pick a VP this week.

      Liked by 2 people

  4. Dequan's avatar

    I’m not trying to get ahead of myself, but this is a blog about the judiciary so allow me to for a minute. I said if Biden won a second term, his next SCOTUS pick for a non-Sotomayor seat would be Alison Nathan. I said for Sotomayor it would be Myrna Perez. I also said if he got to replace Chief Justice Roberts, it would be with Justice Kagan.

    If Harris wins & Democrats pull off a senate majority, I am going to change my chief justice pick. I think KBJ would for sure be elevated. I still think Myrna Perez would get Sotomayor’s seat, but both California 9th circuit court judges Gabriel Sanchez & Ana de Alba’s stock goes up the moment Harris hand comes off the bible.

    Like

      • Dequan's avatar

        Neither of their SJC Q’s had Harris name on it. But I would be willing to bet Biden listened to her a little more for the 4 California 9th seats than most of the other circuit court nominees.

        And even if she didn’t have a hand in it, I am sure their names would be a lot higher on the list than if Biden was president. Not counting Trump (Who let’s be honest, probably couldn’t tell the difference between a law book & a J Crew Factory catalog), the previous three presidents all considered a home state nominee for SCOTUS for Arkansas, Texas & Ilinois respectively).

        Like

  5. Joe's avatar

    Manchin is always going to be a bit of an oddball. Him “campaigning” for the nomination as a sort of token opposition may actually help Kamala if she’s seen as having to earn it. Plus, maybe he’ll vote with Democrats some more.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Jamie's avatar

      If he is the only opposition to Harris, then maybe. But if there is an open convention, there is going to be candidates from the far left and the pro-Palestinian crowd, and that will splinter the party and help Donald Trump.

      Now given that all these delegates were pledged to Biden, we’re not going to have the disturbances inside the building that we got from the Bernie’s delegates in 2016 (which helped to elect Trump). But if say Rashida Tlaib throws her hat in the ring, it could encourage some people to cause trouble outside the convention.

      On top of that, we need to be talking about Donald Trump. The sooner we stop talking about the Democrats’ issues and talk about Donald Trump, the better the chances to beat him. And that won’t happen until we have a ticket in place (which is why I want Kamala to announce her VP this week).

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Zack's avatar

    I know the Joe Biden dropping out and Kamala Harris being the likely nominee is the big news of the day but this out of PA is a big deal too.
    The Fraternal Order Of Police in PA, which has over 40,000 members and has endorsed Democrats in the past including Bob Casey(though they stayed out of the race in 2018) is going for the Republican in the Senate race this time with the nomination of Mangi to the 3rd Circuit and cites the Brinks shooting and Kathy Boudin and his ties to the group around her (no matter how small) as a key reason why.
    I know folks want to think that case doesn’t matter at all but it does in LEO circles in PA and them coming out against Casey when they’ve supported him and other Democrats in the past shows how the ball was dropped with Mangi’s nomination.
    It never should have been allowed to linger as long as it did and as I said before, I suspect Rosen was willing to be the bad gal in this scenario to take the heat for others which includes Casey.
    If Democrats stick with him, he’ll have to be a lame duck confirmation or hope that Kamala Harris can get a Democratic senate with folks unburdened with running for six more years feeling more free to vote for him.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hank's avatar

      I said I would stop responding to your nonsense back when we had the Mangi conversation, but this post is so nonsensical that it can’t be left unrebutted. You really think Casey, who has won multiple times and is an expert in PA politics (certainly more than you are), wouldn’t have come out against Mangi if he thought it would help him win reelection? What exactly did Rosen “save” Casey from? Not getting to seem tough-on-crime?

      And let’s cut the BS and be honest about why Rosen tanked Mangi – it’s not because she wanted to be a “bad gal.” She’s Jewish and was a former rabbi, so she would understandably be more sensitive to claims that any nominee was anti-Semitic. I’d have more respect for her if she just came out and admitted that this issue really hit home for her and she personally can’t support Mangi b/c anybody who advocates for Muslims/Palestinians after October 7th is pro-Hamas (to be clear, this reasoning is BS, but I know firsthand that it’s not an uncommon opinion among many in the Jewish community these days).

      Instead, Rosen claims that she can’t vote for Mangi because he isn’t sufficient pro-police, even when she’s had no problem voting for other similar candidates. She also gets Cortez Masto to come out and say it first so people don’t connect the dots between Rosen’s advocacy for the Netanyahu regime and her decision to tank the first Muslim appeals court nominee. And then she doesn’t campaign on how “tough-on-crime” and “anti-Hamas” she is by tanking Mangi or make any symbolic efforts to support Nevada police (for example), so what exactly was the damn point? It’s insulting that she thinks people are stupid enough to believe her, and as much as I want Dems to win the senate, I hate that Rosen might be rewarded for being an Islamophobic coward.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Hank's avatar

        Sorry Rosen wasn’t a rabbi, but a synagogue president. Otherwise my point still stands. I don’t even think Rosen was Islamophobic before Oct 7th (she voted for Choudhury, who police groups also opposed, after all) – I wish she would just own up to the fact that 10/7 (understandably) changed things for her and that (less understandably) she is punishing Mangi for Hamas’s actions because he’s an easy target.

        Liked by 1 person

    • Jamie's avatar

      And did not confirming Mangi prevent right-wing groups like the FOP from endorsing the GOP candidate? Of course not. The FOP was going to endorse Casey’s opponent after the George Floyd aftermath. That was pretty much guaranteed. They have leaders like this guy, who literally defended the January 6th riots despite several cops being hurt or killed.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Catanzara
      https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-police-news-john-catanzara-fop-lodge-7-union/12908220/

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Rick's avatar

    As far as potential VP choices:

    Roy Cooper of NC is in his final months of his 2nd term as governor, so that’s a plus for him in addition to winning 2 elections in a tough state. Josh Shapiro or Andy Beshear would be good choices. Shapiro has only been governor for 1.5 yrs but he was AG for couple terms plus was in PA House of Representatives for many years so he has experience. Trump’s only experience was to inherit money from his old man and host a game show

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Dequan's avatar

    Senator Manchin returning to the Democrats to run for the nomination might have many positives. For one, he might miss some senate votes. Since he’s a no on any nominees that don’t have Republican support, that’s a positive. Also, it gives Harris a chance to earn the nomination while simultaneously preparing for Trump.

    Like

  15. Hank's avatar

    I don’t know (or care, to be honest) what the Postrider is – if it’s some right-wing trash, it reinforces my point that Western PA is perceived as more similar to the Midwest than the East Coast. You really think there’s some huge difference political distinction between white voters in Cincinnati and white voters in Cleveland? And that Pittsburgh is more similar to New York than those two?

    I don’t even get your point with the Wikipedia article – do you think regions stop at state borders? Nobody in their right mind would argue that Western North Dakota (for example) is much more similar to Cleveland than Eastern Montana simply because of how they’re categorized by the census.

    Are we just arguing over semantics? If you want to call Pittsburgh “Appalachia” or “the Rust Belt” or whatever instead of the Midwest, more power to you. I actually agree that Vance isn’t likely to move the needle in PA (or anywhere to be honest), but that’s because he did horribly and ran behind every Republican in Ohio in 2022. Given how far off the deep end Vance has gone, I’m skeptical that he’s winning any votes that Trump wasn’t already getting.

    Liked by 2 people

Leave a comment