Indiana’s first female chief justice taking office

Loretta Rush is about to become the first female Supreme Court chief justice in Indiana history.

Rush is scheduled to be sworn in Monday afternoon by Gov. Mike Pence. She replaces current Chief Justice Brent Dickson, who announced in June that he would step down but stay on as an associate justice. He faces mandatory retirement when he turns 75 in 2016.

Rush, 56, was selected earlier this month by the seven-member Judicial Nominating Commission.

The former Tippecanoe County judge was appointed to the supreme court by then-Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2012. She's the first woman to serve on the court since Myra Selby stepped down in 1999.

Indiana justices are appointed to five-year terms before facing a retention vote.

In an interview with The Indiana Lawyer, Rush said the chief justice needs to “sort of be the role model, and the pillar of collegiality and civility," because trial courts and attorneys around the state “look to the Supreme Court and particularly the chief for the standard.”