Idaho Supreme Court | |
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Established | 1863 - Territorial 1890 - State |
Location | 451 W. State St. Boise, Idaho, U.S. |
Composition method | non-partisan state-wide staggered elections |
Authorized by | Idaho State Constitution |
Appeals to | Supreme Court of the United States |
Judge term length | 6 years 4 years (Chief Justice) |
Number of positions | 5 |
Website | Official website |
Chief Justice | |
Currently | G. Richard Bevan |
Since | January 1, 2021 |
The Idaho Supreme Court is the state supreme court of Idaho and is composed of the chief justice and four associate justices.
The decisions of the Idaho Supreme Court are binding on all other Idaho state courts. The only court that may reverse or modify its decisions is the Supreme Court of the United States.
The court moved into its present building in 1970; it was previously housed in the nearby state capitol building.
Justices are elected in non-partisan statewide elections and serve staggered six-year terms. Elections are held in the state primary, now in the spring, with run-off elections in November. The Chief Justice is selected by an election among the five justices and term length for that office is four years. [1] Prior to 1983, the position went to the justice with the least amount of time remaining in his term. [2]
The court originally had three justices; it was expanded to five in 1921.
Justice | Age | Born | Joined | Chief Justice | Term ends | Appointed by | Law school |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G. Richard Bevan , Chief Justice | 65 | May 5, 1959 | September 27, 2017 | 2021–present | 2024 | Butch Otter (R) | BYU |
Robyn Brody | 54 | February 13, 1970 | January 2, 2017 | – | 2028 | — [lower-alpha 1] | Denver |
Gregory W. Moeller | 61 | May 1, 1963 | January 3, 2019 | – | 2026 | Butch Otter (R) | BYU |
Colleen Zahn | 50 | October 7, 1973 | July 1, 2021 | – | 2028 | Brad Little (R) | Idaho |
Cynthia Meyer | – | – | December 2023 | – | 2026 | Brad Little (R) | Utah |
The first female justice on the Idaho Supreme Court was Linda Copple Trout, appointed in 1992 by Governor Cecil Andrus and elected in 1996 and 2002. She remains as the state's only female chief justice (1997–2004). The second female justice was Cathy Silak, appointed by Andrus in 1993 and elected in 1994. She lost her reelection bid in 2000 to Dan Eismann and became the first incumbent justice from the court to be defeated since 1944. [3] [4]
After Trout's retirement in 2007, no women were on the court until the election of Robyn Brody in 2016 to a vacant seat, the first by a female; she is the only justice on the current court not first appointed. Colleen Zahn joined the court in 2021, appointed by Governor Brad Little; Brody and Zahn ran unopposed in 2022. With Little's appointment of Cynthia Meyer in 2023, the court currently has a female majority.
Name | Years |
---|---|
G. Richard Bevan | 2021–present |
Roger Burdick (2) | 2017–2020 |
Jim Jones | 2015–2017 |
Roger Burdick | 2011–2015 |
Dan Eismann | 2007–2011 |
Gerald Schroeder | 2004–2007 |
Linda Copple Trout | 1997–2004 |
Charles McDevitt | 1993–1997 |
Robert Bakes | 1989–1993 |
Allan Shepard | 1987–1989 |
Charles Donaldson | 1983–1987 |
The Idaho Supreme Court first permitted live video and audio coverage from its chambers in late 1978. [5]
Cecil Dale Andrus was an American politician who served as 26th and 28th governor of Idaho, for a total of fourteen years. A Democrat, he also served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1977 to 1981 during the Carter Administration. Andrus lost his first gubernatorial election in 1966 but won four and his fourteen years as governor is the most in state history. He is the most recent Democrat to have held the office.
The Idaho panhandle—locally known as North Idaho, Northern Idaho, or simply the Panhandle—is a salient region of the U.S. state of Idaho encompassing the state's 10 northernmost counties: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, and Shoshone. The panhandle is bordered by the state of Washington to the west, Montana to the east, and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. The Idaho panhandle, along with Eastern Washington, makes up the region known as the Inland Northwest, headed by its largest city, Spokane, Washington.
Leonard Beck Jordan was an American politician who served as the 23rd governor of Idaho and a United States Senator for over ten years.
Pete Thomas Cenarrusa was an American politician from Idaho. He served continuously for over half a century in elective office, first as a member of the Idaho Legislature and then as Secretary of State. He was a member of the Republican Party.
William J. Murphy was a Democratic politician from Idaho. He served as the state's 34th lieutenant governor from 1977 to 1979, during the administration of Governor John V. Evans.
The 1986 Idaho gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1986 to elect the governor of the state of Idaho. Cecil Andrus, a former Democratic governor, was elected defeating the Republican Lieutenant Governor David Leroy.
Roger Stephen Burdick is an American attorney and jurist who served as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court from 2003 to 2021. He was chief justice twice for a total of eight years; from 2011 to 2015, and 2017 through 2020.
Daniel Thomas Eismann was an American lawyer and judge from Idaho. Elected to the Idaho Supreme Court in 2000, he was chief justice from 2007 to 2011, and retired in 2017.
Joel David Horton is an American lawyer and retired judge from Idaho. He is a former justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, appointed in 2007.
Robert Eldon Bakes is an American attorney and politician who served as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court from 1971 to 1993.
Linda Jayne Copple Trout is an American lawyer and retired judge from Idaho. She is a former chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, the only female to hold that position. Appointed by Governor Cecil Andrus as an associate justice in 1992, she was the first of four women to serve on the court.
Cathy R. Silak is the former dean of the Concordia University School of Law in Boise, Idaho. She is a former justice of the Idaho Supreme Court and the Idaho Court of Appeals.
Gerald Frank Schroeder is a former American attorney and jurist who served as chief justice of Idaho. He was appointed to the court in 1995 by Governor Phil Batt, and was elected chief justice by his peers in 2004. He served on the court for over a dozen years and retired in July 2007.
Charles Russell Donaldson was an American attorney and jurist who served as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court for more than eighteen years, including the last four years as chief justice. He was elected to the court in November 1968, and served from early 1969 until his death in October 1987.
Larry Monroe Boyle was a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court from 1989 to 1992.
Jesse Raymond Walters Jr. is a former justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, a member from 1997 to 2003.
Robyn Michelle Maddox Brody is an American justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, since 2017. Elected to an open seat in November 2016, she is the third woman to serve on the state's highest court, and the first elected rather than appointed by the governor. Prior to her election, Brody was in private practice for nineteen years in south central Idaho, in Twin Falls and Rupert.
George Richard Bevan is an American attorney and jurist who has served as the chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court since 2021. He previously served as an Idaho district court judge from 2003 until 2017, when he was appointed to the supreme court.
Allan Guy Shepard was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served on the Idaho Supreme Court for two decades, including time as chief justice. He was previously the state's attorney general for six years, preceded by four years as a state legislator.