Iowa’s next chief justice of the state supreme court has been selected — and has already made history. It’ll be the first time a woman’s headed the high court, when Justice Marsha Ternus takes the post of Chief Justice the end of this month.
Chief Justice Louis Lavorato, who’s served on the Supreme Court since 1986, will retire. Ternus was named to the court in 1993 by then-governor Terry Branstad, and fellow Justice Mark Cady says she has the support of every member on the bench. She’ll become the first woman to serve as Chief Justice, and Iowa will join fifteen other states with a high court headed by a woman.
Ternus said she has just one plan, at this time, a plan the court’s already endorsed to strengthen court oversight of child welfare and ensure the safety and well-being of kids in foster care.