Chief Justice Steven R. Jensen

Chief Justice Steven R. Jensen was appointed to the South Dakota Supreme Court by Gov. Dennis Daugaard and sworn in on Nov. 3, 2017. He represents the Supreme Court Fourth District, which consists of Aurora, Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Clay, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hanson, Hutchinson, Lincoln, McCook, Turner, Union and Yankton counties. He was selected by his colleagues on the Supreme Court to serve as Chief Justice in 2021. He was reselected to a second, four-year term as Chief Justice beginning Jan. 6, 2025. 

Chief Justice Jensen grew up on a farm near Wakonda, S.D. He received his undergraduate degree from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., in 1985 and his juris doctor from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1988. He clerked for Justice Richard W. Sabers on the South Dakota Supreme Court before entering private law practice in 1989. In 2003, Chief Justice Jensen was appointed as a First Judicial Circuit judge by Gov. Mike Rounds. He became presiding judge of the First Judicial Circuit in 2011. 

Chief Justice Jensen served as chair of the Unified Judicial System’s Presiding Judges Council, president of the South Dakota Judges Association, and has served on other boards and commissions. In 2009, Chief Justice Jensen was appointed as a Judicial Fellow to the Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource Center in Washington, D.C.