Good news for Indiana. Justice Loretta Rush has been selected as the next Chief Justice for the Indiana Supreme Court. She presided over Tippecanoe County Superior Court 3 since 1999 and did a fine job with the juvenile cases there. Two years ago, she was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court. And today the Judicial Nominating Commission selected her as the Chief Justice who will replace Justice Dickson who stepped down after a brief tenure. Justice Dickson was in the same law firm as Justice Rush here in Lafayette and was apparently a mentor of hers. He saw his role as a transitional Chief Justice to bridge the gap between the long time previous CJ, Randall Shepard.
I have a certain hometown pride going on – Justice Rush was not only a Tippecanoe County lawyer, she was also a Richmond High School graduate. That bias aside, she’ll make a good Chief Justice. I never had any cases in front of her, but as one of the county attorneys, my impression was that, in addition to sound legal judgment, she was a good court administrator. Her responsibilities in administering the Indiana court system will be several orders of magnitude greater than in Tippecanoe County, but she has a solid foundation to work from.
No doubt the future holds a legal opinion or two with which I’ll strongly disagree, but for now, I’m very happy with the JNC’s choice for the position.
Well, jeesh, I will comment first… Congrats to Justice Rush! This is noteworthy.
I’m amazed you failed to add that her alma mater was Indiana University-Bloomington. So a true product of the Heartland. Congrats, Chief Justice Rush! Now reconsider your decision in the school vouchers case. :-)