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Steven Jensen
2017 - Present
2029
7
Steven Jensen is a judge of the South Dakota Supreme Court District 4. He assumed office on November 3, 2017. His current term ends on January 5, 2029.
Jensen ran for re-election for judge of the South Dakota Supreme Court District 4. He won in the retention election on November 3, 2020.
Jensen was elected by his peers to a four-year term as chief justice in 2020, effective January 5, 2021.[1] To read more about judicial selection in South Dakota, click here. Jensen was re-elected to an additional four-year term effective January 6, 2025.[2]
Jensen first joined the court through a gubernatorial appointment. Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) appointed Jensen to the South Dakota Supreme Court in September 2017 to replace Justice Lori Wilbur.[3][4]
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[5] Jensen received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[6] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Education
Jensen received an undergraduate degree from Bethel College and a J.D. from the University of South Dakota in 1988.[3]
Career
- 2017 - Present: Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court
- 2021 - Present: Chief justice, South Dakota Supreme Court
- 2003-2017: Judge, First Judicial Circuit
- 1989-2003: Attorney, Crary Huff Law Firm[3][7]
Elections
2020
South Dakota Supreme Court District 4
Steven Jensen was retained to the South Dakota Supreme Court District 4 on November 3, 2020 with 81.4% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
81.4
|
296,824 | ||
No |
18.6
|
67,717 | |||
Total Votes |
364,541 | ||||
|
|
2014
- See also: South Dakota judicial elections, 2014
Jensen ran for re-election to the First Judicial Circuit.
General: He was unopposed in the general election on November 4, 2014.[8]
2003
Governor Mike Rounds (R) appointed Jensen to the First Judicial Circuit in South Dakota in August of 2003 and he was sworn in on October 3, 2003. He was appointed presiding judge in 2011, and re-appointed to the position by Chief Justice David Gilbertson on August 15, 2013.[9][10][7]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Steven Jensen did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[11]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[12]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Steven
Jensen
South Dakota
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Republican
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Jensen worked for Sen. Chuck Grassley's (R) office in 1984. He was a registered Republican prior to 2020. Jensen was appointed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R)
Noteworthy cases
The section below lists noteworthy cases heard by this judge. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State supreme court judicial selection in South Dakota
- See also: Judicial selection in South Dakota
The five justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court are appointed by the governor from a list of at least two names provided by the South Dakota Judicial Qualifications Commission.[13] The commission is made up of seven members: two circuit court judges, three lawyers, and two members of the public. The judges are elected by the judicial conference, the lawyers are chosen by the state bar association, and the members of the public are appointed by the governor.[14]
Newly appointed judges serve for at least three years, after which they must run in a yes-no retention election during a regularly scheduled general election. Subsequent terms last eight years.[15]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is chosen by peer vote and serves in that capacity for four years.[15]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a resident of South Dakota;
- a voting resident within his or her respective district;
- licensed to practice law in the state; and
- under the age of 70.*[15][16][17]
Vacancies
If a judge retires before the end of his or her term, a judicial nominating commission recommends candidates to the governor, and the governor selects a successor from that list. The new appointee serves for at least three years before running in a yes-no retention election.[15]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ South Dakota State News, "Governor Noem To Appoint Judge Myren To South Dakota Supreme Court," October 28, 2020
- ↑ South Dakota Searchlight, “SD Supreme Court selects Jensen for second term as chief justice" accessed January 9, 2025
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sioux City Journal, "Law was late choice for newest South Dakota Supreme Court justice," October 24, 2017
- ↑ Plain Talk, "Daugaard Picks Jensen For State Supreme Court," September 22, 2017
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 KDLT.com, "Chief justice reappoints SD presiding judges," August 15, 2013
- ↑ South Dakota Secretary of State, "Current candidates for primary election - 6/3/2014," updated May 6, 2014, accessed May 8, 2014pg. 60
- ↑ Keloland, "Judge Jensen To Oversee Southeast SD Court Circuit," April 21, 2011
- ↑ Sioux City Journal, "Jensen take oath as First Circuit judge," October 3, 2003
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ South Dakota Secretary of State, "Judicial System," accessed April 15, 2025
- ↑ South Dakota Unified Judicial System, "Judicial Qualifications Commission," accessed April 15, 2025
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: South Dakota," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Under the South Dakota code, a supreme court justice who turns seventy while in office must be "automatically retired on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of January next after the general election at which members of the Legislature are elected."
- ↑ Justia US Law, "Section 16-1-4.1: Mandatory retirement of justices at age seventy—Conclusion of pending matters," accessed September 10, 2014
Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of South Dakota • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of South Dakota
State courts:
South Dakota Supreme Court • South Dakota Circuit Courts • South Dakota Magistrate Courts
State resources:
Courts in South Dakota • South Dakota judicial elections • Judicial selection in South Dakota
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