en List of justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court

Following is a list of justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The court was established when Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907, and was initially composed of five justices, with the state divided into a corresponding number of judicial districts.^[1] In 1917, the court was expanded to nine justices, with the judicial districts being redrawn accordingly, and with the seats for the fourth and fives judicial districts being switched.^[1]

Current membership

The justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court are:

Justice	District	Appointed	Governor	Law school	Birth city
Yvonne Kauger	4th	1984	George Nigh	Oklahoma City University	Colony, Oklahoma
James R. Winchester	5th	2000	Frank Keating	Oklahoma City University	Clinton, Oklahoma
James E. Edmondson	7th	2003	Brad Henry	Georgetown University	Kansas City, Missouri
Doug Combs	8th	2010	Brad Henry	Oklahoma City University	Shawnee, Oklahoma
Noma Gurich	3rd	2011	Brad Henry	University of Oklahoma	South Bend, Indiana
Richard Darby	9th	2018	Mary Fallin	University of Oklahoma	Altus, Oklahoma
Dustin Rowe	2nd	2019	Kevin Stitt	University of Oklahoma	Ada, Oklahoma
M. John Kane IV	1st	2019	Kevin Stitt	University of Oklahoma	Pawhuska, Oklahoma
Dana Kuehn	6th	2021	Kevin Stitt	University of Tulsa	Owasso, Oklahoma

List of former justices

Judge	Began active service	Ended active service	District	Notes
John B. Turner	1907	1918	District 1
Robert L. Williams	1907	1914	District 2	first Chief Justice (1908–1913); Resigned 3-10-1914; Later third Governor of Oklahoma
Matthew John Kane	1908	1923	District 3	Chief Justice 1909–12; died January 2, 1924
Jesse James Dunn	1907	1913	District 4	Resigned September 1, 1913
Samuel W. Hayes	1907	1914	District 5	Resigned April 7, 1914.
Robert H. Loofbourrow	1913	1915	District 4	Appointed September 1, 1913
Stillwell H. Russell	1914	1914	District 2	died May 16, 1914
W.R. Bleakmore	1914	1914	District 2	appointed May 26, 1914
Summers T. Hardy	1914	1919	District 2	Elected to an unexpired term; resigned May 1, 1919
J. F. Sharp	1914	1919	District 4/5^[2]	resigned October 1, 1919
F. E. Riddle	1914	1914	District 5	Appointed April 7, 1914
G. A. Brown	1914	1915	District 5	Died October 25, 1915
Charles M. Thacker	1915	1918	District 5/4^[3]	Appointed November 2, 1915; died February 17, 1918
J. H. Miley	1917	1918	District 6	Appointed March 31, 1917
Thomas H. Owen	1917	1920	District 7	Appointed March 31, 1917, elected 1918, resigned May 1, 1920
Robert M. Rainey	1917	1920	District 8	Appointed March 31, 1917; Chief Justice 1920–21
Rutherford Brett	1917	1918	District 9	Appointed March 31, 1917.
John H. Pitchford	1918	1923	District 1	Died March 2, 1923
B. L. Tisinger	1918	1918	District 4	appointed March 5, 1918
John B. Harrison	1918	1928	District 4
Neil E. McNeil	1918	1924	District 6
Frank M. Bailey	1919	1920	District 5	Appointed October 1, 1919
John T. Johnson	1919	1925	District 9	Chief Justice 1923 & 1925; presided over impeachment of Governor Walton in 1922
R. W. Higgins	1919	1920	District 2	Appointed May 7, 1919
Franklin Elmore Kennamer	1920	1924	District 8	Appointed to Oklahoma Supreme Court in 1920. Resigned April 1, 1924 to become Federal Judge for Northern District of Oklahoma
C. H. Elting	1920	1922	District 2	Died December 3, 1922
George M. Nicholson	1920	1926	District 5	Chief Justice 1925–27
George S. Ramsey	1920	1920	District 7	Appointed May 1, 1920; resigned November 5, 1920
John R. Miller	1920	1922	District 7	Elected to an unexpired term
William A. Collier	1920	1920	District 7	Appointed November 5, 1920
Fred P. Branson	1922	1929	District 7	Chief Justice 1927–29
Charles B. Cochrane	1922	1924	District 2	Appointed December 6, 1922; resigned May 1, 1924
Charles W. Mason	1923	1931	District 1	Appointed; Chief Justice 1929–31
J. D. Lydick	1924	1924	District 3	Appointed January 7, 1924
Frank L. Warren	1924	1924	District 8	Appointed April 1, 1924
Eugene Lester	1924	1931	District 2	Elected to an unexpired term; Chief Justice, 1931
Albert C. Hunt	1924 1955	1931 1956	District 6 District 3	Elected to Supreme Court in 1924 Appointed October 14, 1955 to replace the late Justice Ben Arnold; died August 26, 1956
Fletcher S. Riley	1924	1948	District 9
James H. Gordon	1924	1932	District 2	Appointed May 1, 1924.
James I. Phelps	1925–29	1935	District 3	Elected to an unexpired term
James Waddey Clark	1925	1933	District 8
Robert A. Hefner	1926	1932	District 5
James B. Cullison	1928	1934	District 3
Charles Swindall	1928	1934	District 4
James B. Cullison	1929	1931	District 3
Thomas G. Andrews	1929	1935	District 7
J. H. Langley	1930 1933	1931 1934	District 1	Resigned after serving 1 month in first term; won election in 1933
W. H. Kornegay	1931	1932	District 1	Appointed February 2, 1931
Edwin R. McNeill	1931	1937	District 6	Chief Justice 1936–37
J. H. Langley	1931	1931	District 1	Resigned February 2, 1931
Samuel Earl Welch	1932	1965	District 2	Resigned in 1965
Wayne W. Bayless	1932	1948	District 1	Elected to an unexpired term of J. H. Langley
Monroe Osborn	1932	1947	District 5	Died June 20, 1947
Orel Busby	1932	1937	District 8	Resigned August 7, 1937
N. S. Corn	1934	1958	District 4	Impeached; convicted of bribery and sent to prison
Thomas L. Gibson	1934	1952	District 7
Denver Davison	1937	1978	District 8	Appointed August 7, 1937, replacing Justice Orel Busby; retired August 8, 1978, replaced by Justice Douglas Combs;
Harris L. Danner	1938	1940	District 3	Appointed December 1, 1938, resigned October 10, 1940
Sam Neff	1940	1956	District 3	Appointed October 10, 1940
Ben Arnold	1941	1953	District 3	Chief Justice 1951–1953; died September 30, 1955
John E. Luttrell	1947	1951	District 5	Appointed July 1, 1947; resigned August 13, 1951
Napoleon B. Johnson	1948	1965	District 1	Impeached by a Special Court of Impeachment, May 13, 1965; replaced by Judge Robert E. Lavender.
Harry L. S. Halley	1948	1966	District 6
George Bingaman	1951	1952	District 5	Appointed August 13, 1951
W. H. Blackbird	1952	1972	District 7	Retired December 1, 1971
Ben T. Williams	1952	1982	District 5	Appointed in 1952; died in office January 11, 1982. Served 2 terms as
Floyd L. Jackson	1954	1973	District 9	Retired January 8, 1973
W. A. Carlile	1956	1958	District 3	Appointed September 17, 1956
William A. Berry	1958	1978	District 3	Resigned November 20, 1978
Pat Irwin (Oklahoma judge)	1958	1983	District 4	Chief Justice (1969–70) and (1981–82); Retired December 1983; appointed Magistrate of U.S. District Court for Western Oklahoma (1983–1991); died in Edmond, OK; 1993
Ralph B. Hodges	1965	2004	District 2	Appointed April 20, 1965; Chief Justice 1977–1978 and 1993–1994 (2 terms)
Robert E. Lavender	1965	2007	District 1	Chief Justice 1979 – 1981 Retired from Court in 2007; replaced by Justice John F. Reif;
Rooney McInerney	1966	1972	District 6	Resigned September 1, 1972; replaced by Judge Robert D. Simms.
Don Barnes	1972	1985	District 7	Appointed January 4, 1972; retired January 1985
Robert D. Simms	1972	1999	District 6	Appointed October 2, 1972; Chief Justice 1985 – 1986
John B. Doolin	1973	1992	District 9	Appointed January 8, 1973, replacing Justice Floyd L. Jackson; served as chief justice 1987-8; retired May 1, 1992
Marian P. Opala	1978	2010	District 3	Appointed November 21, 1978; Chief Justice 1991–1992; died in office October 10, 2010
Rudolph Hargrave	1978	2010	District 8	Appointed October 10, 1978, replacing Justice Davison; Chief Justice 1979 – 1981; retired effective December 31, 2010; Replaced by Douglas L. Combs
Alma Wilson	1982	1999	District 5	Appointed February 9, 1982; Chief Justice 1995–1997
Hardy Summers	1985	2003	District 7	Appointed February 1, 1985, replacing Justice Don Barnes; Chief Justice 1999–2000
Joseph M. Watt	1992	2017	District 9	Appointed June 1, 1992; Chief Justice 2003–2007; replaced by Judge Richard Darby in April, 2018
Daniel J. Boudreau	1999	2004	District 6	Resigned after serving 5 years to teach law at University of Tulsa law school^[4]
Steven W. Taylor	2004	2016	District 2	Chief Justice 2011–2013
Tom Colbert	2004	2021	District 6	Chief Justice 2013–2015
John F. Reif	2007	2019	District 1	Chief Justice 2015–2016; retired in April 2019
Patrick Wyrick	2017	2019	District 2	Appointed February 9, 2017, Resigned to become federal judge on April 10, 2019

Table

Year	Seat 1	Seat 2	Seat 3	Seat 4	Seat 5	Seat 6	Seat 7	Seat 8	Seat 9
1907	John B. Turner	Robert L. Williams	Matthew John Kane	Jesse James Dunn	Samuel W. Hayes	No Seat	No Seat	No Seat	No Seat
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914				J. F. Sharp
1915		Summers T. Hardy			G. A. Brown
1916					Charles M. Thacker
1917				Charles M. Thacker	J. F. Sharp	J. H. Miley	Thomas H. Owen	Robert M. Rainey	Rutherford Brett
1918				Charles M. Thacker		J. H. Miley			Rutherford Brett
1919	John H. Pitchford			John B. Harrison		Neil E. McNeil			John T. Johnson
1920		R. W. Higgins			Frank M. Bailey
1921		C. H. Elting			Frank M. Bailey		John R. Miller	Franklin Elmore Kennamer
1922		C. H. Elting			George M. Nicholson		John R. Miller
1923		Charles B. Cochrane					Fred P. Branson
1924	Charles W. Mason	Charles B. Cochrane	James I. Phelps						Fletcher S. Riley
1925		Eugene Lester				Albert C. Hunt		James Waddey Clark
1926
1927					Robert A. Hefner
1928
1929
1930			James B. Cullison	Charles Swindall			Thomas G. Andrews
1931	J. H. Langley					Edwin R. McNeill
1932	W. H. Kornegay	Samuel Earl Welch
1933	J. H. Langley				Monroe Osborn			Orel Busby
1934	J. H. Langley
1935	Wayne W. Bayless
1936			James I. Phelps	N. S. Corn			Thomas L. Gibson
1937								Denver Davison
1938						T. H. Hurst
1939			Harris L. Danner
1940			Harris L. Danner
1941			Ben Arnold
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947					John E. Luttrell
1948
1949	Napoleon B. Johnson					Harry L. S. Halley			C. T. O'Neal
1950
1951					George Bingaman
1952					Ben T. Williams		W. H. Blackbird
1953
1954									Floyd L. Jackson
1955
1956			Albert C. Hunt
1957			W. A. Carlile
1958			W. A. Carlile
1959			William A. Berry
1960				Pat Irwin
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966	Robert E. Lavender	Ralph B. Hodges
1967						Rooney McInerney
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972							Don Barnes
1973						Robert D. Simms			John B. Doolin
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978								Rudolph Hargrave
1979			Marian P. Opala
1980
1981
1982					Alma Wilson
1983
1984				Yvonne Kauger
1985
1986							Hardy Summers
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992									Joseph M. Watt
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999						Daniel J. Boudreau
2000					James R. Winchester
2001
2002
2003							James E. Edmondson
2004						Tom Colbert
2005		Steven W. Taylor
2006
2007
2008	John F. Reif
2009
2010
2011			Noma Gurich					Doug Combs
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017		Patrick Wyrick
2018		Patrick Wyrick							Richard Darby
2019	M. John Kane IV	Dustin Rowe
2020
2021						Dana Kuehn

Justices of the Oklahoma Territory Supreme Court

Edward B. Green, Chief Justice (1890–1893)
John G. Clark, Associate Justice (1890–1903), Chief Justice
Abraham Jefferson Seay 1890–92
John H. Burford 1892–1906, Chief Justice 1898–1903
A.G.C. Bierer 1894–98
John L. McAtee 1898–1902
Henry W. Scott (judge) (1892–1896), Chief Justice 1895–1896
James R. Keaton 1896–98
John C. Tarsney 1896–99
Frank Dale 1893–1898
Bayard T. Hainer 1898–1907
Clinton F. Irwin 1899–1907
Joseph A. Gill 1899 – 1907
J. L. Pancoast 1902–1907
Milton C. Garber 1906–07
James K. Beauchamp 1902–1906
Frank E. Gillette 1902–1907

References

^ ^a ^b "Oklahoma History", Oklahoma Almanac (July 23, 2012), p. 788.
^ District number changed from District No. 4 to District No. 5 in 1917.
^ District number changed from District No. 5 to District No. 4 in 1917.
^ Snyder, Carmel Perez (July 12, 2004). "High court resignations trigger selection process: After a scandal in the '60s, nominations come from a nonpartisan commission". The Oklahoman. Retrieved April 29, 2004.

[History-1] "Oklahoma History", Oklahoma Almanac (July 23, 2012), p. 788.

[2] District number changed from District No. 4 to District No. 5 in 1917.

[3] District number changed from District No. 5 to District No. 4 in 1917.

[4] Snyder, Carmel Perez (July 12, 2004). "High court resignations trigger selection process: After a scandal in the '60s, nominations come from a nonpartisan commission". The Oklahoman. Retrieved April 29, 2004.

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