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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011
CONTACT: Tony Venhuizen or Joe Kafka at 605-773-3212
Gov. Daugaard To Appoint Judge Lori Wilbur To State Supreme Court
PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced today that he will appoint Lori S. Wilbur to the South Dakota Supreme Court. Wilbur will succeed Justice Judith Meierhenry, who retired from the court in June. Wilbur is the presiding judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit.
“Lori Wilbur will be a phenomenal Supreme Court Justice,” Gov. Daugaard said. “She is well-respected for intellect, her calm demeanor, and her quiet commitment to a fair and open judiciary. Every person I consulted spoke in the very highest terms about Judge Wilbur.”
Wilbur will be the 48th justice in the history of the South Dakota Supreme Court and the second female justice. Justice Meierhenry, who was appointed by Gov. Bill Janklow in 2002, was the first woman to serve on the high court.
“There is no way I can replace Justice Meirehenry's experience or wisdom – she has blazed a trail in South Dakota,” Wilbur said. “Each of us brings to our work, whatever that work is, our lifetime of experience and our values. In my experience, the people of this state expect courteous and prompt resolution of their disputes by judges and justices who apply the law fairly and impartially. I am humbled to be selected from the pool of candidates who applied, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to do this worthwhile work. I thank Gov. Daugaard for his confidence in my abilities.”
Wilbur has held every judicial position in the South Dakota court system. She served first as a part-time, and then a full-time magistrate judge from 1992 to 1999. She took the bench as a circuit judge in 1999 after being elected in 1998, and was re-elected in 2006. Wilbur has led the Sixth Circuit as presiding judge since 2007, and she has served as a replacement justice on about 20 state Supreme Court cases. As a circuit judge, Wilbur led the Sixth Circuit’s DUI Court program, which is an alternative sentencing program that seeks to address defendants’ underlying addictions.
“I was particularly struck by something Lori said in her interview,” Gov. Daugaard added. “When I asked her why she would be a good justice, she told me that she lives by the same three rules that she asks her DUI defendants to follow: ‘Show up, try hard, and be honest.’ That is a simple and eloquent statement of the values that make South Dakota great.”
Wilbur, 58, is a Madison native. She and her late husband, Brent, have two grown daughters. She graduated from the University of South Dakota with a bachelor’s degree in 1974 and earned her law degree from USD in 1977.
Before taking the bench, Wilbur worked as an assistant attorney general and as an attorney for the Board of Regents, the Legislative Research Council, and the Bureau of Personnel. Wilbur serves as secretary for the Judicial Qualifications Commission. She is a past president of the South Dakota Judges Association, and a past member of the State Bar Ethics Committee and the State Board of Nursing.
Like Justice Meierhenry, Wilbur will represent the Fourth Supreme Court District, which is comprised of Union, Clay, Yankton, Hutchinson, Hanson, Davison, Bon Homme, Douglas, Aurora, Brule, Charles Mix, Gregory, Tripp, Lyman, McCook, Turner counties and a portion of Lincoln County. In order to accept the appointment, Wilbur will resign from her position as Sixth Circuit Judge and will relocate to the Fourth District. The move will allow her to live closer to her mother and daughters.
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