By NIKI KELLY, Indiana Capital Chronicle
Indiana’s Judicial Nominating Commission took only minutes to confer before unanimously selecting Indiana Supreme Court Justice Loretta Rush to continue in her role as chief justice.
“We have to have a strong judiciary. You have to have a judiciary that people trust, because that’s our currency,” she said. “I love Indiana courts. You know, I’ve professionally been in them all. I’ve seen a lot of great changes and improvements. And it motivates me to see what can we do better.”
Rush has been on the state’s highest court since 2012 after being appointed by then-Gov. Mitch Daniels.
The commission named Rush Indiana’s first female chief justice in August 2014, the same year voters retained her as a supreme court judge. She was last reappointed to the chief justice role in 2019. Voters will choose whether to retain her as a judge Nov. 5.
All four of Rush’s counterparts on the court supported her reappointment.
“The most important qualities that the chief justice demonstrates — just, in spades — it all begins with integrity,” Supreme Court Justice Derek Molter said. “Vision is incredibly important: vision in all directions, understanding our history and seeing a vision of where we are going, innovation.”
He compared Rush to Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever and Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers.
“It’s impressive what she can do on her own but what transcends, what’s incredibly impactful, is the way in which she brings the team up around her,” Molter said.
As chief justice, Rush is responsible for supervising Indiana’s judicial branch. The role involves working with the state legislature to secure funding and allocate resources, as well as overseeing a multi-agency central administrative office that handles everything from caseload measures and technology updates to the admission and discipline of lawyers.
She told the commission before the vote that one of her core beliefs is in the transparency and openness. Rush said she seeks to bring the type of stability and longevity that former Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard brought.
She acknowledged that people have lost trust in courts — like all public institutions. She said people have focused too much on who appointed justices and their political views. All five of Indiana’s justices were appointed by Republicans.
“We are not unanimous. We’re probably at 65% unanimity rate,” Rush said.
She added that she thinks Indiana’s courts have done a good job of staying out of the political fray.
Prior to her appointment, Rush spent 15 years at a Lafayette law firm and was elected three times to serve as Tippecanoe Superior Court 3 judge. She earned her undergraduate degree from Purdue University and her law degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law, both with honors. She is married to Jim Rush; they have four children and five grandchildren.
