List of Justices of the Montana Supreme Court
Following is a list of Justices of the Montana Supreme Court.
Current members
Former members
Chief Justices
Montana Territorial Supreme Court
| Chief Justice |
Term served |
Notes |
| Hezekiah L. Hosmer |
(1864–1868) |
Appointed first Chief Justice of Territorial Supreme Court by President Lincoln |
| Henry L. Warren |
(1868–1871) |
Appointed by President Johnson |
| Decius Wade |
(1871–1887) |
Appointed by President Grant |
| N. W. McConnell |
(1887–1889) |
Appointed by President Cleveland; resigned |
| Henry N. Blake |
(1889) |
Appointed by President Harrison, 1889; previously Associate Justice of Territorial Supreme Court (1875–1885); elected first Chief Justice of Montana Supreme Court after statehood |
Montana Supreme Court
| Chief Justice |
Term served |
Notes |
| Henry N. Blake |
(1889–1893) |
First Chief Justice of Montana Supreme Court; previously Associate Justice of Territorial Supreme Court (1875–1885); Chief Justice of Territorial Supreme Court (1889) |
| William Y. Pemberton |
(1893–1899) |
|
| Theodore Brantly |
(1899–1922) |
Died in office; longest serving Chief Justice to date (23 years) |
| Llewellyn L. Callaway |
(1922–1935) |
Appointed |
| Walter B. Sands |
(1935–1938) |
Died in office |
| O. F. Goddard |
(1938–1939) |
Appointed |
| Howard A. Johnson |
(1939–1946) |
Resigned |
| Carl Lindquist |
(1946) |
Appointed |
| Hugh R. Adair |
(1947–1956) |
Also served as Associate Justice 1943-1946, 1957–1968 |
| James T. Harrison |
(1957–1977) |
Appointed |
| Paul G. Hatfield |
(1977–1978) |
|
| Frank I. Haswell |
(1978–1985) |
Appointed |
| Jean A. Turnage |
(1985–2000) |
| Karla M. Gray |
(2001–2008) |
Elected |
Associate Justices
Montana Territorial Supreme Court
| Associate Justice |
Term served |
Notes |
| Ammi Giddings |
(1864–1865) |
Appointed by President Lincoln, but never served; resigned immediately due to ill health, though commission remained in force until 1865 |
| Lorenzo P. Williston |
(1864–1868) |
Appointed by President Lincoln |
| Lyman E. Munson |
(1865–1869) |
Appointed by President Lincoln |
| Hiram Knowles |
(1868–1879) |
Appointed by President Johnson |
| George G. Symes |
(1869–1871) |
Appointed by President Grant |
| Francis G. Servis |
(1872–1875) |
Appointed by President Grant |
| Henry N. Blake |
(1875–1885) |
Appointed by President Grant; subsequently appointed as Chief Justice of Territorial Supreme Court, 1889; elected first Chief Justice of Supreme Court, 1889–1893 |
| William J. Galbraith |
(1879–1888) |
Appointed to first term by President Hayes, to subsequent term by President Arthur |
| Everton J. Conger |
(1880–1886) |
Appointed by President Hayes |
| John Coburn |
(1884–1886) |
Appointed by President Hayes |
| Thomas C. Bach |
(1886–1889) |
Appointed by President Cleveland |
| James H. McLeary |
(1886–1888) |
Appointed by President Cleveland |
| Stephen DeWolf |
(1888–1889) |
Appointed by President Cleveland |
| Moses J. Liddell |
(1888–1889) |
Appointed by President Cleveland |
Montana Supreme Court
| Associate Justice |
Term served |
Notes |
| William H. DeWitt |
(1889–1897) |
|
| Edgar N. Harwood |
(1889–1895) |
|
| William Henry Hunt |
(1894–1900) |
Resigned |
| Horace R. Buck |
(1897) |
Died in office |
| William Trigg Pigott |
(1897–1903) |
Appointed |
| Robert L. Word |
(1900–1901) |
Appointed |
| George R. Milburn |
(1901–1907) |
|
| William L. Holloway |
(1903–1926) |
Died in office |
| Henry C. Smith |
(1907–1913) |
|
| Sidney Sanner |
(1913–1918) |
|
| William Trigg Pigott |
(1918) |
Appointed; previously served as Associate Justice, 1897–1903 |
| Charles H. Cooper |
(1919–1924) |
Resigned |
| John Hurley |
(1919–1921) |
|
| George Y. Patten |
(1919) |
Appointed to newly created seat; resigned |
| John A. Matthews |
(1919–1920) |
Appointed; subsequently served as Associate Justice, 1925–1937 |
| Roy E. Ayers |
(1922 - ) |
Appointed to newly created seat |
| Albert J. Galen |
(1921–1933) |
|
| Frank B. Reynolds |
(1921–1922) |
Died in office |
| George W. Farr |
(1922–1923) |
Appointed |
| Albert P. Stark |
(1923–1929) |
|
| Wellington D. Rankin |
(1924–1925) |
Appointed |
| John A. Matthews |
(1925–1937) |
Previously served as Associate Justice, 1919 |
| Warren Toole |
(1926–1927) |
Appointed |
| Henry L. Myers |
(1927–1929) |
Appointed |
| Albert H. Angstman |
(1929–1934) |
Subsequently served as Associate Justice 1937-1942, 1945-1961 for a total of 28 years |
| Sam C. Ford |
(1929–1933) |
Subsequently Governor of Montana, 1941 to 1949 |
| Ralph J. Anderson |
(1933–1939) |
|
| Sam V. Stewart |
(1933 - 1939) |
Previously Governor of Montana, 1913-1921; State Representative, 1931-1933; died in office, 1939 |
| Claude F. Morris |
(1935–1947) |
|
| Albert H. Angstman |
(1937–1942) |
Previously served as Associate Justice, 1929–1934; subsequently served 1945-1961 |
| Ralph L. Arnold |
(1939–1941) |
Appointed |
| Leif Erickson |
(1939–1945) |
|
| Albert Anderson |
(1941–1945) |
|
| Hugh R. Adair |
(1943–1946) |
Subsequently served as Chief Justice, 1947–1956, and again as Associate Justice 1957 - 1968 |
| Albert H. Angstman |
(1945–1961) |
Previously served as Associate Justice, 1929–1934, and 1945–1961 |
| Edwin K. Cheadle |
(1945–1947) |
Resigned |
| I. W. Choate |
(1947–1949) |
Appointed |
| Fred L. Gibson |
(1947–1949) |
Appointed |
| Lee Metcalf |
(1947–1953) |
Subsequently U.S. Representative, 1953-1961; U.S. Senator, 1961-1978 |
| R. V. Bottomly |
(1949–1961) |
|
| Harrison J. Freebourn |
(1949–1954) |
|
| Forrest H. Anderson |
(1953–1956) |
Subsequently served as Governor of Montana, 1969-1973 |
| Horace S. Davis |
(1954–1957) |
Appointed |
| Hugh R. Adair |
(1957–1968) |
Previously served as Associate Justice, 1943–1946 and as Chief Justice, 1947–1956 |
| Wesley Castles |
(1957–1977) |
Appointed |
| Stanley M. Doyle |
(1961–1967) |
Appointed; resigned |
| John C. Harrison |
(1961–1994) |
Longest serving justice in history of the court |
| Frank I. Haswell |
(1967–1978) |
Appointed; subsequently served as Chief Justice, 1978–1985 |
| John W. Bonner |
(1969–1970) |
Previously Governor of Montana, 1949 to 1953; Died in office, 1970 |
| Gene B. Daly |
(1970–1983) |
Appointed, reelected |
| Daniel J. Shea |
(1977–1985) |
|
| John C. Sheehy |
(1978–1991) |
Appointed |
| Frank B. Morrison |
(1981–1987) |
Resigned |
| Fred J. Weber |
(1981–1995) |
|
| J. C. Gulbrandson |
(1983–1989) |
| William E. Hunt |
(1985–2000) |
|
| R. C. McDonough |
(1987–1993) |
|
| Diane Barz |
(1989–1990) |
First woman to serve on the court; resigned |
| Terry N. Trieweiler |
(1990–2003) |
|
| Karla M. Gray |
(1991–2000) |
Subsequently served as Chief Justice, 2000 to 2008 |
| Charles E. Erdmann |
(1995–1997) |
|
| Jim Regnier |
(1997–2004) |
|
| John Warner |
(2003–2009) |
|
| W. William Leaphart |
(1995–2010) |
Elected 1994; re-elected 2002 |
|
| James C. Nelson |
(1993–2012) |
Appointed by Governor Marc Racicot; elected 1994; re-elected 1996, 2004 |
References