Justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court

The South Dakota Supreme Court is the state’s highest court. Originally the Supreme Court was made up of three justices. In 1908, the State Legislature expanded the size of the Supreme Court from three justices to five. The justices represent districts of approximately equal population.

Prior to 1972, members of the South Dakota Supreme Court held the title of “judge” and were elected in statewide, partisan elections to six-year terms, with vacancies filled by gubernatorial appointment. The 1972 revision of the judicial article, which created the Unified Judicial System, changed the title to “justice,” made the elections non-partisan, and extended the term to eight years.

The 1972 revision also created the office of the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice presides over the court and is the chief administrator of the Unified Judicial System. The Chief Justice is selected by the justices to serve a renewable four-year term. If the office becomes vacant, a new Chief Justice is selected and begins a new four-year term. Chief Justice David Gilbertson, who retired in 2021, is the state’s longest-serving Chief Justice.

A 1980 constitutional amendment adopted the “Missouri system,” whereby the Governor appoints justices from a list of applicants deemed qualified by a screening committee, and justices are subject to statewide retention elections every eight years. No justice has ever been removed by a retention election.

Below is a complete list of judges and justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court. Justices who served as chief justice are denoated by an asterisk (*). There is also follows a list of chief justices.

#	JUDGE OR JUSTICE	TENURE	DISTRICT	SELECTED BY	LEFT OFFICE
1	Dighton Corson	1889–1913	1st	Election	Didn’t seek reelection
	Alphonso G. Kellam	1889–1896	2nd	Election	Resigned
	John E. Bennett	1889–1893	3rd	Election	Died in office
4	Howard G. Fuller	1894–1908	3rd	Sheldon	Died in office
5	Dick Haney	1896–1913	2nd	Sheldon	Didn’t seek reelection
6	Charles S. Whiting	1908–1922	3rd	Crawford	Died in office
7	Ellison G. Smith	1909–1923	4th	Election	Defeated for reelection
	James H. McCoy	1909–1921	5th	Election	Resigned
9	Samuel C. Polley	1913–1947	1st	Election	Retired
	John Howard Gates	1913–1927	2nd	Election	Died in office
11	Frank Anderson	1921–1925	5th	McMaster	Didn’t seek reelection
12	Carl G. Sherwood	1922–1931	3rd	McMaster	Didn’t seek reelection
13	Charles H. Dillon	1923–1926	4th	Election	Retired
14	Dwight Campbell	1925–1937	5th	Election	Didn’t seek reelection
15	N. D. Burch	1926–1931	4th	Gunderson	Died in office
16	James Brown	1927–1931	2nd	Bulow	Defeated for reelection
17	Frederick A. Warren	1931–1944	2nd	Election	Died in office
	Everett D. Roberts	1931–1970	3rd	Election	Retired
19	Herbert B. Rudolph	1931–1957	4th	Green	Died in office
20	St. Clair Smith	1937–1962	5th	Election	Retired
21	Vernon R. Sickel	1944–1956	2nd	Sharpe	Resigned
22	Charles R. Hayes	1947–1951	1st	Mickelson	Resigned
23	Boyd Leedom	1951–1955	1st	Anderson	Resigned1
24	Alex Rentto	1955–1971	1st	Foss	Retired
25	Charles S. Hanson	1956–1973	2nd	Foss	Retired
26	Harold Bogue	1957–1959	4th	Foss	Died in office
27	Frank Biegelmeier*	1959–1974	4th	Herseth	Retired
28	Frederick J. Homeyer	1962–1971	5th	Gubbrud	Didn’t seek reelection
29	Fred R. Winans	1971–1976	3rd	Farrar	Resigned
30	Roger L. Wollman*	1971–1985	5th	Election	Resigned2
31	James M. Doyle	1971–1976	1st	Kneip	Died in office
32	Francis G. Dunn*	1973–1985	2nd	Kneip	Resigned
33	Oren P. “Phil” Coler	1974–1977	4th	Kneip	Defeated for reelection
34	Lawrence J. Zastrow	1976–1979	1st	Kneip	Defeated for reelection
35	Robert E. Morgan	1977–1991	4th	Election	Retired
36	Donald J. Porter	1977–1979	3rd	Kneip	Defeated for reelection
37	Frank E. Henderson	1979–1994	1st	Election	Retired
	Jon Fosheim*	1979–1986	3rd	Election	Retired
39	Richard W. Sabers	1986–2009	2nd	Janklow	Retired
40	George W. Wuest*	1986–1994	5th	Janklow	Retired
41	Robert A. Miller*	1986–2001	3rd	Janklow	Retired
42	Robert A. Amundson	1991–2002	4th	Mickelson	Retired
43	John K. Konenkamp	1994–2014	1st	Miller	Retired
44	David E. Gilbertson*	1995–2021	5th	Janklow	Retired
45	Steven L. Zinter	2002–2018	3rd	Janklow	Died in office
46	Judith K. Meierhenry3	2002–2011	4th	Janklow	Retired
47	Glen A. Severson	2009–2018	2nd	Rounds	Retired
48	Lori S. Wilbur	2011–2017	4th	Daugaard	Retired
49	Janine M. Kern	2015–25	1st	Daugaard	Retired
50	Steven R. Jensen*	2017–	4th	Daugaard
51	Mark E. Salter	2018–	2nd	Daugaard
52	Patricia J. DeVaney	2019–	3rd	Noem
53	Scott P. Myren	2021–	5th	Noem
54	Robert Gusinsky	2025–	1st	Rhoden

* Served as Chief Justice for a portion of the justice’s tenure; see complete list below.

1. Judge Leedom resigned to accept an appointment from President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the National Labor Relations Board.
2. Justice Wollman, the older brother of Governor Harvey Wollman, resigned to accept an appointment from President Ronald Reagan as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
3. Justice Meierhenry was the first woman to serve on the South Dakota Supreme Court.

#	CHIEF JUSTICE	TENURE
1	Frank Biegelmeier	1972–1974
2	Francis G. Dunn	1974–1978
3	Roger L. Wollman	1978–1982
4	Jon Fosheim	1982–1986
5	George W. Wuest	1986–1990
6	Robert A. Miller	1990–2001
7	David E. Gilbertson	2001–2021
8	Steven R. Jensen	2021–