By South Dakota voters will be asked whether to retain Justice Scott Myren on the state Supreme Court for another eight years.
Myren does not face an opponent. There will be a simple yes or no retention question on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The governor appoints South Dakota’s five Supreme Court justices. There is one from each of five geographic appointment districts. Myren is the justice who represents the Aberdeen area.
Justices face nonpolitical retention votes three years after being appointed and every eight years after that.
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Before being selected by Gov. Kristi Noem for the Supreme Court in 2021, Myren worked in the Brown County-based 5th Judicial Circuit.
Myren
Myren grew up on a family farm in rural Campbell County and graduated from Mobridge High School in 1982. He received a bachelor’s degree, double majoring in history and political science, from the University of South Dakota in 1985. He earned his juris doctorate from Rutgers University in 1988, where he was the research editor of the Rutgers Law Journal.
He practiced law in Denver before returning to South Dakota to work as a staff attorney for the Supreme Court. He served as an administrative law judge for the Office of Administrative Hearings and a magistrate judge for the 6th Judicial Circuit.
In 2003, he was appointed as a circuit judge for the 5th Judicial Circuit by Gov. Mike Rounds. He was reelected to that position by the voters in 2006 and 2014. Chief Justice David Gilbertson appointed him the presiding judge for the 5th Judicial Circuit in 2014. He served as presiding judge until his appointment to the Supreme Court.
He and his wife, Virginia Trexler-Myren, have two daughters.
The 5th Supreme Court District includes Harding, Butte, Perkins, Corson, Ziebach, Dewey, Campbell, Walworth, Potter, McPherson, Edmunds, Faulk, Brown, Spink, Marshall, Day, Clark, Codington, Hamlin, Roberts, Grant and Deuel counties.