Female chief justices of state supreme courts

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search

As of March 2025, 43 out of the 50 states have had women in the top role of the state's judiciary. Arizona became the first state to have a female chief justice of its supreme court in 1965. North Carolina became the second state in 1975. In the 1990s, 15 states had a female chief justice for the first time. This page includes a table with the current female chief justices and a table indicating when a woman first served as chief justice in each state.

Ballotpedia's state supreme courts coverage

The current female chief justices of the state supreme courts are:

NameCourt
Karen R. BakerArkansas Supreme Court
Susan CarneyAlaska Supreme Court
Patricia GuerreroCalifornia Supreme Court
Monica MárquezColorado Supreme Court
Mary Jane TheisIllinois Supreme Court
Loretta H. RushIndiana Supreme Court
Susan ChristensenIowa Supreme Court
Marla LuckertKansas Supreme Court
Debra Hembree LambertKentucky Supreme Court
Valerie StanfillMaine Supreme Judicial Court
Kimberly S. BuddMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Elizabeth ClementMichigan Supreme Court
Natalie HudsonMinnesota Supreme Court
Mary Rhodes RussellMissouri Supreme Court
Lidia StiglichNevada Supreme Court
Shannon BaconNew Mexico Supreme Court
Sharon KennedyOhio Supreme Court
Meagan A. FlynnOregon Supreme Court
Debra ToddPennsylvania Supreme Court
Holly KirbyTennessee Supreme Court
Beth WalkerSupreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
Debra StephensWashington Supreme Court
Annette ZieglerWisconsin Supreme Court
Kate M. FoxWyoming Supreme Court

History

Lorna Lockwood

Lorna Lockwood

Lorna Lockwood (1903-1977) was the first woman in the country to serve as chief justice of a state supreme court. Lockwood began serving on the Arizona Supreme Court in 1965.

Lockwood was born in 1903. She attended the University of Arizona and passed the state bar in 1925. From 1939 to 1942, and from 1947 to 1949, she was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives. She became a judge on the Maricopa County Superior Court in 1951. A decade later, she was elected to the Arizona Supreme Court, where she served for 14 years. She served two one-year terms as chief justice in 1965 and 1970. She was considered for appointment to the United States Supreme Court in 1967, but President Lyndon Johnson nominated Thurgood Marshall instead.

Lockwood was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 1981. She is featured in the Arizona Judiciary's Legends of the Judiciary project, which consists of videos commemorating seven important figures in Arizona's judicial history. Access the videos here.[1][2]


When did each state get its first female chief justice?

Decade
1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Never
Arizona, 1965
Lorna Lockwood
North Carolina, 1975
Susie Sharp
Connecticut, 1984
Ellen Ash Peters
Florida, 1992
Rosemary Barkett
Alaska, 2000
Dana Fabe
New Hampshire, 2010
Linda Dalianis
Oklahoma Criminal Appeals, 2021
Dana Kuehn
Delaware
California, 1977
Rose Bird
Missouri, 1993
Ann Covington
Montana, 2000
Karla Gray
Virginia, 2010
Cynthia Kinser
Pennsylvania, 2023
Debra Todd
Hawaii
Michigan, 1979
Mary Coleman
New York, 1993
Judith Kaye
South Carolina, 2000
Jean Hoefer Toal
Wyoming, 2010
Marilyn Kite
Kentucky, 2025
Debra Hembree Lambert
Nebraska
West Virginia, 1993
Margaret Workman
Texas Criminal, 2000
Sharon Keller
Ohio, 2011
Maureen O'Connor
North Dakota
Kansas, 1995
Kay McFarland
Maine, 2001
Leigh Ingalls Saufley
Maryland, 2013
Mary Ellen Barbera
Rhode Island
Washington, 1995
Barbara Durham
Illinois, 2002
Mary Ann McMorrow
Indiana, 2014
Loretta H. Rush
South Dakota
Oklahoma Supreme, 1995
Alma Wilson
Utah, 2002
Christine Durham
Oregon, 2018
Martha Walters
Texas Supreme
New Jersey, 1996
Deborah Poritz
New Mexico, 2003
Petra Jimenez Maes
Vermont
Wisconsin, 1996
Shirley Abrahamson
Arkansas, 2004
Betty Dickey
Idaho, 1997
Linda Copple Trout
Georgia, 2005
Leah Ward Sears
Nevada, 1997
Miriam Shearing
Iowa, 2006
Marsha Ternus
Colorado, 1998
Mary Mullarkey
Alabama, 2007
Sue Bell Cobb
Minnesota, 1998
Kathleen Blatz
Tennessee, 2008
Janice Holder
Mississippi, 1998
Lenore Prather
Louisiana, 2009
Catherine D. Kimball
Massachusetts, 1999
Margaret Marshall

[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]

See also

Footnotes

  1. Arizona Women's Heritage Trail, "Lorna Lockwood," accessed March 20, 2015
  2. Arizona Women's Hall of Fame, "Lorna Lockwood," accessed March 20, 2015
  3. North Carolina Supreme Court Historical Society, "Justices of the Court," accessed February 3, 2014
  4. Wikipedia.org, "Rose Bird"
  5. Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society, "Mary Coleman"
  6. Yale Law School, "Former Justice Ellen Ash Peters ’54 Honored at Last Sitting," June 10, 2014
  7. Florida Supreme Court, "Justice Rosemary Barkett"
  8. University of Missouri, "Ann K. Covington"
  9. New York Courts, "Judith Smith Kaye"
  10. West Virginia Judiciary, "Chief Justice Margaret L. Workman"
  11. Kansas Judicial Branch, "Honorable Kay McFarland"
  12. Komo News, "Pioneering Former State Chief Justice Barbara Durham Dies," December 31, 2002
  13. Wikipedia.org, "Deborah Poritz"
  14. Madison.com, "Shirley Abrahamson — first woman on Wisconsin Supreme Court — now also longest-serving member," April 12, 2013
  15. National Women's History Museum, "Linda Copple Trout"
  16. Nevada Judiciary, "Judicial trailblazer Miriam Shearing given Supreme Court’s Legacy of Justice Award," October 5, 2012
  17. Distinctly Oklahoma, "Judge Alma Bell Wilson," October 2, 2011
  18. Denver Post, "Mullarkey, chief justice of Colorado Supreme Court, stepping down," June 4, 2010
  19. Twin Cities, "Retired Minnesota Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz chosen to oversee state spending pleas during shutdown," June 30, 2011
  20. Northeast Daily Mississippi Journal, "HED: Prather sworn in as first female chief justice," February 5, 1998
  21. WGBH News, "This Week In History: Margaret Marshall Becomes First Woman Chief Justice Of Mass. SJC," October 17, 2014
  22. Anchorage Eventful, "WOMEN JUDGES: ARE THEY MAKING A DIFFERENCE?" March 17, 2014
  23. Montana Courts, "MONTANA WOMEN & THE LAW"
  24. South Carolina Supreme Court, "Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal"
  25. Maine Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court Justice Biographies"
  26. Chicago Tribune, "Mary Ann McMorrow," February 25, 2013
  27. Deseret News, "Durham endures," October 4, 2003
  28. American Bar Association, "ABA to Honor New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Petra Jimenez Maes for Promoting Diversity in Law," November 3, 2011
  29. Leslie Rutledge Attorney General, "Former Chief Justice Endorses Rutledge," July 31, 2013
  30. Wikipedia.org, "Leah Ward Sears"
  31. Marsha Ternus website
  32. Politico, "I Was Alabama’s Top Judge. I’m Ashamed by What I Had to Do to Get There," March 2015
  33. Tennessee Courts, "JUSTICE JANICE HOLDER, FIRST FEMALE TO SERVE AS TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE, ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT," June 26, 2015
  34. Louisiana State Bar Association, "Nomination Deadline is April 6 for Catherine D. Kimball Award"
  35. Concord Monitor, "Court's first woman for chief justice," November 17, 2010
  36. Governor's Press Release, "Governor McDonnell Congratulates Justice Kinser on Her Investiture as First Female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia," February 16, 2011
  37. Jackson Hole Daily "Kite to be chief justice," March 18, 2010
  38. Supreme Court of Ohio, "Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor"
  39. The Daily Record, "O’Malley appoints Barbera as chief judge of Court of Appeals," July 3, 2013
  40. Indy Star, "Loretta Rush named first female chief justice of Indiana Supreme Court," August 6, 2014
  41. Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt, "Governor Kevin Stitt Appoints Judge Dana L. Kuehn to The Supreme Court of Oklahoma," July 26, 2021
  42. WGAL, "Justice Debra Todd formally installed as first female Chief Justice in history of Pa. Supreme Court," accessed January 23, 2023
  43. Kentucky BAR Association, “Debra Hembree Lambert elected Chief Justice" accessed January 9, 2025