(One hundred eighth Justice)
Loretta H. Rush took the oath of office as Indiana's 108th Supreme Court Justice in November 2012 after being appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels. She was retained by voters in 2014. The Judicial Nominating Commission named her Indiana’s first female Chief Justice in August 2014, and she was reappointed in 2019 and 2024. As Chief Justice, Rush is responsible for supervising Indiana’s judicial branch. This supervision includes working with the state legislature to secure funding and allocate resources appropriately and overseeing a multi-agency central administrative office that handles everything from caseload measures and technology updates to the admission and discipline of lawyers.
Chief Justice Rush is the Immediate Past-President of the Conference of Chief Justices and a member of the National Center for State Courts Board of Directors. She also served as co-chair of the National Judicial Opioid Task Force and as an executive committee member on the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness. In 2019, she was appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts to the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction and continues to serve in that role. And Chief Justice Rush was recently elected as a member of the American Law Institute. In addition to being a member of local, state, and national bar associations, Chief Justice Rush is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an Academy of Law Alumni Fellow for the Maurer School of Law. She is a member of the Indiana Girl Advisory Council. She also chairs or is a member of several commissions, including the Indiana Judicial Conference Board of Directors and the Indiana Judicial Nominating/Qualifications Commission.
Chief Justice Rush was named the 2018 Indiana Chamber of Commerce Government Leader of the Year. She has also received the American Legion of Indiana Distinguishing Public Service Award; the Purdue University Distinguished Alumni Award with induction into the Boiler Business Exchange Hall of Fame; the Indianapolis Bar Association’s Antoinette Dakin Leach Award; the Indiana Civil Rights Commission Spirit of Justice Award; the Indiana Business Journal Women of Influence Award; the Addiction Policy Forum Pillar of Excellence Award; and the National Association of Women Judges Lady Justice Award. Additionally, IBJ Media has included Chief Justice Rush on each of their annual Indiana 250 lists, which includes the state’s most influential and impactful leaders.
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 was born in Pennsylvania and moved frequently as a child before settling in Indiana in 1972. 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 with four children and five grandchildren.