List of justices of the Idaho Supreme Court

Following is a list of justices of the Idaho Supreme Court. Idaho was made a territory on March 4, 1863, and the first justices of the Territorial Supreme Court were appointed by President Abraham Lincoln. Following statehood in 1890, the state constitution provided for three justices. By an amendment in 1919, the number was increased and fixed at five, composed of a chief justice and four associate justices, which commenced in January 1921 and remains the present size of the court.

The first female justice on the court was Linda Copple Trout, she was first appointed in 1992 and later served as chief justice. Cathy Silak was appointed the following year and was elected to the court in 1994, being the first woman to be elected to Idaho Supreme Court (Trout ran unopposed in 1996). Silak served through 2000, suffering the only election defeat for an incumbent on the court since 1944.[1][2] Following the retirement of Trout in 2007, the court was all-male until the election of Robyn Brody in November 2016. With the appointment of Colleen Zahn in 2021 and Cynthia Meyer in 2023, the court currently has a female majority.

Idaho Territorial Court

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Chief justices of the Idaho Territorial Court[3]

State supreme court

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Justice Seat Began Ended Chief Justice Law School
Isaac Sullivan 1 1891 1917 CJ 1891–92;
1899–1900;
1905–06
1909–10
Joseph Huston 2 1891 1901 CJ 1893–94
John Morgan 3 1891 1896 CJ 1895–96
Ralph Quarles 3 1897 1903 CJ 1897–98
Charles Stockslager 2 1901 1907 CJ 1901–02
James Ailshie 3
1
1903
1935
1914
1947
CJ 1903–04;
1907–08; 1913–14;
1939–41; 1945–46
Willamette University College of Law, 1891
George Stewart 2 1907 1914 CJ 1911–12 North Indiana Law School, 1881
Warren Truitt 3 1914 1915 .
Alfred Budge 2 1914 1949 CJ University of Michigan Law School, 1890
William Morgan 3 1915
1933
1920
1942
CJ 1919–20 Georgetown University Law Center, 1899
John Rice 1 1917 1923 CJ Cornell Law School, 1890
Robert Dunn 3 1921 1925 CJ 1924-1925 University of Central Missouri, 1880
Charles McCarthy 4 1921 1925 Harvard Law School, 1902
William A. Lee 5 1921 1926 CJ Washington University School of Law, 1885
William E. Lee 1 1923 1930 CJ 1926–29 National University School of Law, 1906
Raymond Givens 4 1925 1955 CJ 1930–31
Herman Taylor 3 1925 1929 University of Wisconsin Law School, 1902
T. Bailey Lee 5 1926 1933 CJ 1931–32 University of North Carolina School of Law, 189x
Bertram Varian 3 1929 1933
William McNaughton 1 1930 1931
Robert Leeper 1 1932 1932 University of Idaho College of Law, 1913
Edwin Holden 5 1933 1950 CJ
N. D. Wernette 1 1933 1935 University of Michigan, 1907
S. Ben Dunlap 3 1942   1945 ^
Bert Miller 3 1945 1948 Cumberland School of Law, 1902
Paul Hyatt 1 1947 1949 University of Idaho, 1927
James Porter 2 1949 1959 CJ Drake University Law School, 1910
William Keeton 1 1949 1959 CJ University of Michigan, 1908
Clarence Taylor 3 1949 1969 CJ University of Idaho, 1919
Darwin Thomas 5 1950 1954 University of Idaho, 1925
E. B. Smith 5 1954 1968 CJ 196x–63 University of Idaho, 1919
Donald Anderson 4 1955 1956 University of Idaho, 1927
Henry McQuade 4 1956 1976 CJ University of Idaho, 1943
Emery Knudson 1 1959 1965 CJ 1963–65 University of Idaho, 1921
Joseph McFadden 2 1959 1982 CJ University of Idaho, 1940 (est.)
Clay Spear 1 1966 1971 University of Idaho, 1936
Charles Donaldson 3 1969 1987 CJ 1983–87 University of Idaho, 1948
Allan Shepard 5 1969 1989 CJ 1987–89 University of Washington School of Law, 1951
Robert Bakes 1 1971 1993 CJ 198x–83; 1989–93 University of Idaho, 1956
Stephen Bistline 4 1976 1994 University of Idaho, 1949
Robert Huntley 2 1982 1989 University of Idaho, 1959
Byron Johnson 3 1988 1999 Harvard University, 1962
Larry Boyle 2 1989 1992 University of Idaho, 1972
Charles McDevitt 5 1989 1997 CJ 1993–97 University of Idaho, 1956
Linda Copple Trout 2 1992 2007 CJ 1997–2004 University of Idaho, 1977
Cathy Silak 1 1993   2000 ^ UC Berkeley School of Law, 1976
Gerald Schroeder 4 1995 2007 CJ 2004–07 Harvard University, 1964
Jesse Walters 5 1997 2003 University of Idaho, 1963
Wayne Kidwell 3 1999 2005 University of Idaho, 1964
Dan Eismann 1 2001 2017 CJ 2007–11 University of Idaho, 1976
Roger Burdick 5 2003 2021 CJ 2011–15; 2017–20 University of Idaho, 1974
Jim Jones 3 2005 2017 CJ 2015–17 Northwestern University School of Law, 1967
Warren Jones 4 2007 2017 University of Chicago Law School, 1968
Joel Horton 2 2007 2018 University of Idaho, 1985
Robyn Brody 3 2017 Incumbent Sturm College of Law, 1997
Richard Bevan 1 2017 Incumbent CJ 2021–present J. Reuben Clark Law School, 1987
John Stegner 4 2018 2023 University of Idaho, 1982
Gregory Moeller 2 2019 Incumbent Brigham Young University, 1990
Colleen Zahn 5 2021 Incumbent University of Idaho, 2000
Cynthia Meyer 4 2023 Incumbent S.J. Quinney College of Law, 1987
  • Beginning in 1983, the Chief Justice was determined by an election among the five justices of the court.
    Previously the position rotated to the justice with the least amount of time remaining in his term.[4]

  ^  defeated in statewide election: Dunlap (1944), Silak (2000)

References

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  1. ^ "Otter emerges from GOP crowd in Idaho primary". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. May 24, 2000. p. B5.
  2. ^ "Statewide judicial vote by county". State of Idaho. Secretary of State, Election Division. May 23, 2000. Archived from the original on May 1, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  3. ^ Hawley, James Henry (1910). History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains. Vol. 4. Boise, Idaho: Syms-York Company. p. 289. ISBN 9780598277060.
  4. ^ "Donaldson is first elective chief justice". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. January 4, 1983. p. 4D.
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