South Dakota Supreme Court | |
---|---|
Established | 1889 |
Jurisdiction | South Dakota |
Location | Pierre, South Dakota |
Composition method | Missouri Plan |
Authorized by | South Dakota Constitution |
Appeals to | Supreme Court of the United States |
Judge term length | 8 years |
Number of positions | 5 |
Website | Official Website |
Chief Justice | |
Currently | Steven R. Jensen |
Since | January 5, 2021 |
Lead position ends | 2028 |
The South Dakota Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of South Dakota. It is composed of a chief justice and four associate justices appointed by the governor. One justice is selected from each of five geographic appointment districts. Justices face a nonpolitical retention election three years after appointment and every eight years after that. The justices also select their own chief justice.
The Supreme Court of South Dakota serves as the final appellate court in the state, reviewing the decisions of state circuit courts. [1] The Supreme Court is also authorized to issue original or remedial writs and provide advice to the governor regarding the scope of executive powers.
The court also provides administration for South Dakota's unified court system, preparing and submitting the judiciary's annual budget, appointing court personnel, and generally supervising the circuit courts. The court is also charged with making the rules covering practice and procedure, administration of the courts, terms of courts, admissions to the bar, and discipline of members of the bar within the state of South Dakota.
The Supreme Court of the Dakota Territory was established in Yankton, South Dakota in 1861. It was the first Territorial Supreme Court in American history. Initially, justices were appointed directly by the President of the United States. The first court consisted of three justices: Philemon Bliss, Lorenzo P. Williston, and Joseph L. Williams, appointed by President Abraham Lincoln. The court heard no cases until December 3, 1867. [2] In 1879 the court enlarged to four justices, then six in 1884, and eight in 1888.
In 1889, the Dakota Territory was split into North Dakota and South Dakota, and the Territorial Supreme Court was formally dissolved by President Benjamin Harrison. Bartlett Tripp served as the last Chief Justice of the Dakota Territory. He left the court in 1889 upon South Dakota's statehood and to become the 25th United States Ambassador to Austria.
An election was held in South Dakota to select the first state supreme court. Justices Dighton Corson, Alphonso G. Kellam, and John E. Bennett were elected and sworn-in October 15, 1889. Since there was no capitol building yet for the new state, the oath-taking ceremony took place on the Hughes County courthouse veranda. [3]
The court was forced to use the county courthouse until 1891 when it began holding court in the state legislature's senate chambers. The South Dakota Supreme Court did not receive its own chambers until the autumn of 1905. [4]
In 2002, Judith Meierhenry was appointed by Governor William Janklow as the first female Supreme Court Justice. She served until her retirement in 2011. In 2014, Janine Kern was appointed by Governor Dennis Daugaard. At the time of her appointment she was the only Justice on the South Dakota Supreme Court to not receive admission via diploma privilege. In 2017, she was joined by Steven R. Jensen who sat for the bar exam in 1988.
Candidates for selection as Justices for the South Dakota Supreme Court come from one of five Appointment Districts. These districts follow county lines as follows:
The current justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court. [5]
District | Justice | Born | Joined | Chief Justice | Term ends | Appointed by | Law school |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | Steven R. Jensen , Chief Justice | March 18, 1963 | November 3, 2017 | 2021–present | 2028 | Dennis Daugaard (R) | South Dakota |
1 | Janine M. Kern | February 14, 1961 | January 5, 2015 | – | 2026 | Dennis Daugaard (R) | Minnesota |
2 | Mark Salter | September 26, 1968 | July 9, 2018 | – | 2030 | Dennis Daugaard (R) | South Dakota |
3 | Patricia DeVaney | October 30, 1968 | April 4, 2019 | – | 2030 | Kristi Noem (R) | Virginia |
5 | Scott P. Myren | September 22, 1964 | January 5, 2021 | – | 2028 | Kristi Noem (R) | Rutgers |
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The Alaska Court System is the unified, centrally administered, and totally state-funded judicial system for the state of Alaska. The Alaska District Courts are the primary misdemeanor trial courts, the Alaska Superior Courts are the primary felony trial courts, and the Alaska Supreme Court and the Alaska Court of Appeals are the primary appellate courts. The chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court is the administrative head of the Alaska Court System.
David Gilbertson is the former Chief Justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court.
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Louis Kossuth Church was an American politician who was a New York Supreme Court justice, a member of the New York Legislature, and the ninth and penultimate Governor of Dakota Territory, serving from 1887 to 1889.
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The University of South Dakota School of Law also known as University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law or USD Law in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, is a professional school of the University of South Dakota and the only law school in the state of South Dakota. Established in 1901, by U.S. Ambassador Bartlett Tripp and U.S. Senator Thomas Sterling. The law school is home to approximately 168 students and has more than 3,000 alumni. With 168 J.D. candidates, it is currently the second-smallest law school and smallest public law school student population among the American Bar Association accredited law schools.
Dighton Corson was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist, and was a pioneer of Wisconsin and South Dakota. He was one of first justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Bartlett Tripp was a diplomat, Chief Justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court, first professor of the University of South Dakota College of Law and first President of the South Dakota Bar Association.
Peter C. Shannon was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. After practicing law for a time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1852, Shannon ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the US House of Representatives, losing by five hundred votes to Whig David Ritchie. Shannon was then appointed president judge of the local district court in 1852 by Pennsylvania Governor William Bigler, but served for only a year, having been defeated for re-election in 1853. At the beginning of the Civil War Shannon became a Republican and was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving two terms, 1862 and 1863. He was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel in a regiment which he helped raise, but resigned to continue his political career. In 1862 he campaigned with Governor Andrew Curtin in his successful re-election bid, and in 1864 was part of Lincoln's re-election campaign in Pennsylvania.
Alanson Hamilton Barnes was an associate justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court and the namesake of Barnes County, North Dakota.
Charles F. Templeton was an Attorney-General of the Dakota Territory and a justice of the Dakota Territorial Supreme Court from 1888 to 1889, and an attorney and judge in the Dakotas following their admission to statehood.
Steven R. Jensen is the chief justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court since 2021. He was appointed as an associate justice by Governor Dennis Daugaard in 2017. He became the 50th member of the court, succeeding Justice Lori S. Wilbur.
The Dakota Territorial Supreme Court was the highest court of the Dakota Territory, then an organized incorporated territory of the United States. It was the first Territorial Supreme Court in American history, and was established under Article One of the United States Constitution, with justices were appointed directly by the President of the United States. The court sat in Yankton, South Dakota, and existed from March 2, 1861, to November 2, 1889. The first court consisted of three justices: Philemon Bliss, Lorenzo P. Williston, and Joseph Lanier Williams, appointed by President Abraham Lincoln. The court heard no cases until December 3, 1867. In 1879 the court enlarged to four justices, then six in 1884, and eight in 1888.
Ellison Griffith Smith was a justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court from 1909 to 1923.
Scott Palmer Myren is an Associate Justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library