Judicial Nominating Commission to vote on next chief justice in August; Rush seeks reappointment

Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush sent a letter Tuesday to the Office of Judicial Administration and judges across the state stating her intent for a third term as chief justice.

Rush has been on the high court’s bench for 12 years and is currently in her 10th year as chief justice.

“The past decade has been a period of remarkable evolution in Indiana’s Judicial Branch. Thanks to your passion and dedication, we’ve worked together to launch pretrial and problem-solving court initiatives, implement and finalize our statewide electronic filing and unified case management systems, sustain our court system through a global pandemic, overhaul our administrative agency structure, advance causes to improve access to justice for all, reshape the approach to addressing behavioral health and substance use disorders for court participants and so much more,” Rush wrote in the letter.

The Judicial Nominating Commission will have the final say on whether Rush will stay chief justice or one of the other four justices on the bench will be appointed to lead.

The commission will meet on Aug. 21 at 9 a.m. in the Supreme Court Conference Room in the Indiana Statehouse to vote on Indiana’s next chief justice.

All current Supreme Court justices have been invited to share their thoughts with the commission during the meeting. The commission has asked the justices to speak about the qualities and attributes important in a Chief Justice.

“Above all, we must always endeavor to promote our most sacred resource: trust and confidence in our courts,” Rush wrote in her letter. “Your work is critical not only to maintaining that trust and confidence but also to defending the rule of law and the way of life we enjoy as free people.”

She ended by stating that whatever comes next she looks forward to continuing to work with judges across the state and the Office of Judicial Administration.