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Loretta Rush to seek a third term as Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice

Loretta Rush smiles as she delivers her annual address to the Indiana General Assembly in the House chamber. Rush is a White woman with brunette hair. She is wearing glasses and black judicial robes over a white shirt.
Brandon Smith
/
IPB News
Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush will seek a third term leading the state's high court.

Loretta Rush announced Tuesday she will seek another five-year term as Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.

Rush became the first woman to serve in the role in 2014.

The chief justice is chosen by the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission from among the five justices on the Supreme Court. The commission is primarily made up of three citizens appointed by the governor and three lawyers appointed by other lawyers.

Rush was first named chief justice in 2014 after being appointed to the state’s high court two years earlier by Gov. Mitch Daniels. She was reappointed to the job in 2019 and now seeks a third term.

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Rush said late last year she was undecided on whether she’d seek a third term.

But in a letter to judges and judicial branch staff, Rush said she wants to continue working on issues that include the state’s attorney shortage, the opioid epidemic, improving court technology and protecting judicial officers from violent threats.

Rush’s reappointment bid has the support of the other four justices.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.