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. 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.

Idaho Territorial Court

Chief Justices of the Idaho Territorial Court[3]

• Sidney Edgerton (March 10, 1863 – July 25, 1864)
• Silas Woodson (July 25, 1864 – February 28, 1865)
• John R. McBride (February 28, 1865 – July 18, 1868)
• Thomas J. Bowers (July 18, 1868 – April 9, 1869)
• David Noggle (April 9, 1869 – January 14, 1875)
• M. E. Hollister (January 14, 1875 – January 13, 1879)
• Williams G. Thompson (January 13, 1879 – June 10, 1879)
• J. T. Morgan (June 10, 1879 – August 14, 1885)
• James B. Hays (August 14, 1885 – September 29, 1888)
• Hugh W. Weir (September 29, 1888 – May 1889)
• James H. Beatty (May 1889 – July 3, 1890)

State supreme court

Justice	Seat	Began	Ended	Chief Justice	Law School
Isaac N. Sullivan	1	1891	1917	CJ 1891–92; 1899–1900; 1905–06 1909–10
Joseph W. Huston	2	1891	1901	CJ 1893–94
John T. Morgan	3	1891	1896	CJ 1895–96
Ralph P. Quarles	3	1897	1903	CJ 1897–98
Charles Stockslager	2	1901	1907	CJ 1901–02
James F. Ailshie	3 1	1903 1935	1914 1947	CJ 1903–04; 1907–08; 1913–14; 1939–41; 1945–46	Willamette University, 1891
George H. 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, 1890
William M. Morgan	3	1915 1933	1920 1942	CJ 1919–20	Georgetown University, 1899
John Campbell Rice	1	1917	1923	CJ	Cornell University, 1890
Robert N. Dunn	3	1921	1925
Charles P. McCarthy	4	1921	1925
William A. Lee	5	1921	1926	CJ	Washington University, 1885
William E. Lee	1	1923	1930	CJ 1926–29
Raymond L. Givens	4	1925	1955	CJ 1930–31
Herman H. Taylor	3	1925	1929		University of Wisconsin, 1902
T. Bailey Lee	5	1926	1933	CJ 1931–32	University of North Carolina, 189x
Bertram S. Varian Sr.	3	1929	1933
William F. McNaughton	1	1930	1931
Robert D. Leeper	1	1932	1932		University of Idaho, 1913
Edwin M. 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 University, 1902
Paul W. Hyatt	1	1947	1949		University of Idaho, 1927
James W. Porter	2	1949	1959	CJ	Drake University, 1910
William D. Keeton	1	1949	1959	CJ	University of Michigan, 1908
Clarence J. Taylor	3	1949	1969	CJ	University of Idaho, 1919
Darwin W. Thomas	5	1950	1954		University of Idaho, 1925
E. B. Smith	5	1954	1968	CJ	University of Idaho, 1919
Donald B. Anderson	4	1955	1956		University of Idaho, 1927
Henry F. McQuade	4	1956	1976	CJ	University of Idaho, 1943
Emery T. Knudson	1	1959	1965	CJ	University of Idaho, 1921
Joseph J. McFadden	2	1959	1982	CJ	University of Idaho, 1940 (est.)
Clay V. Spear	1	1966	1971		University of Idaho, 1936
Charles Donaldson	3	1969	1987	CJ 1983–87	University of Idaho, 1948
Allan G. Shepard	5	1969	1989	CJ 1987–89	University of Washington, 1951
Robert E. Bakes	1	1971	1993	CJ 1989–93	University of Idaho, 1956
Stephen Bistline	4	1976	1994		University of Idaho, 1949
Robert C. Huntley Jr.	2	1982	1989		University of Idaho, 1959
Byron J. Johnson	3	1988	1999		Harvard University, 1962
Larry M. Boyle	2	1989	1992		University of Idaho, 1972
Charles F. 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 ^		University of California, 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	Incumbent	CJ 2011–15;      2017–20	University of Idaho, 1974
Jim Jones	3	2005	2017	CJ 2015–17	Northwestern University, 1967
Warren Jones	4	2007	2017		University of Chicago, 1968
Joel Horton	2	2007	2018		University of Idaho, 1985
Robyn Brody	3	2017	Incumbent		University of Denver, 1997
Richard Bevan	1	2017	Incumbent	CJ 2021–present	Brigham Young University, 1987
John Stegner	4	2018	Incumbent		University of Idaho, 1982
Gregory Moeller	2	2019	Incumbent		Brigham Young University, 1990

• 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

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. 4. Boise, Idaho: Syms-York Company. p. 289.
4. "Donaldson is first elective chief justice". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. January 4, 1983. p. 4D.

External links

• Idaho State Historical Society listing of justices from 1890–1993
• Idaho Blue Book – 2013–14 – Judicial branch