Justice Scott P. Myren

Justice Scott P. Myren, who was sworn in to represent the Fifth Supreme Court District on January 5, 2021, was appointed by Governor Kristi Noem. Justice Myren grew up on his family farm in rural Campbell County and graduated from Mobridge High School in 1982. He received a Bachelor of Science 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. Justice Myren practiced law in Denver, Colorado, before returning to South Dakota to work as a staff attorney for the South Dakota Supreme Court. He served as an administrative law judge for the Office of Administrative Hearings and magistrate judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit. In 2003 he was appointed as a circuit judge for the Fifth Judicial Circuit by Governor M. Michael Rounds. He was re-elected to that position by the voters in 2006 and 2014. Chief Justice David Gilbertson appointed him the Presiding Judge for the Fifth Judicial Circuit in 2014. Justice Myren served as chair of the Unified Judicial System’s Presiding Judges’ Council and president of the South Dakota Judges’ Association. He served on numerous committees, including the Court Improvement Program and Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative, which he chaired. He was selected as a Judicial Fellow to the Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource Center in Washington D.C., in 2009. He served on Governor Daugaard’s South Dakota Criminal Justice Initiative workgroup and Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Initiative workgroup. He supervised the rural and urban pilot programs, which led to the implementation of Hope Probation across South Dakota. He served as Drug Court and DUI court judge for Brown County. He and his wife, Dr. Virginia Trexler-Myren, have two daughters. The Fifth 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.