Nicholas Spaeth

{{Short description|American politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Nicholas Spaeth

|office = 27th Attorney General of North Dakota

|governor = George Sinner

|term_start = January 1, 1985

|term_end = December 15, 1992

|predecessor = Robert Wefald

|successor = Heidi Heitkamp

|birth_date = {{birth date|1950|1|27}}

|birth_place = Mahnomen, Minnesota, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|2014|3|16|1950|1|27}}

|death_place = Fargo, North Dakota, U.S.

|party = Democratic

|education = Stanford University (BA, JD)
New College, Oxford

}}

Nicholas John Spaeth (January 27, 1950 – March 16, 2014) was the 27th Attorney General of North Dakota, serving from 1985 to 1992. He lost the 1992 North Dakota governor's race to Republican Ed Schafer.

Born in Mahnomen, Minnesota, Spaeth grew up in Valley City, Fargo, and Bismarck in North Dakota. He went to college at Stanford University, where he graduated with honors, and won a Rhodes Scholarship to New College, Oxford. After Oxford, he went to Stanford Law School, where he was managing editor of the law review.{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2012/03/too_old_to_get_hired_too_young036246.php|newspaper=Washington Monthly|date=March 24, 2011|access-date=2012-03-24|title=Too Old to Get Hired, Too Young to Retire|author=Michael Kinsley}}[https://www.ndcourts.gov/court/news/spaethn.htm North Dakota Supreme Court News-Nicholas John Spaeth]

After graduation, he clerked for United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Judge Myron Bright and then for Supreme Court Justice Byron White.{{cite web|title=Memorandum Opinion, Nicholas Spaeth, Plaintiff, v. Georgetown University, Defendant, Civil Action No. 11-1376 (ESH), United States District Court, District of Columbia|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14916352069944023892&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr|date=March 13, 2012|author=Ellen Segal Huvelle|access-date=2012-03-24}}[http://law.missouri.edu/faculty/directory/spaethn.html Nicholas J. Spaeth profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205084321/http://www.law.missouri.edu/faculty/directory/spaethn.html |date=2010-12-05 }}, University of Missouri School of Law; accessed March 18, 2014.

In the November 1992 election for governor of North Dakota, Spaeth lost to Schafer, 58% to 41%. In 2004, Spaeth joined H&R Block, Inc. in 2004, as a senior vice president and chief legal officer.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hrblock.com/presscenter/about/profileDetail.jsp?EXEC_PROFILE_ID=1060|title = H&R Block's Newsroom - Source of Company and Tax News}} He resigned in 2007 and joined the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) as executive vice-president, general counsel and chief risk officer.'Nicholas Spaeth, former ND attorney general, found bead in Fargo,' Grand Forks Herald, Patrick Springer, May 17. 2014