Mark J. Crandley
Partner, Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Jeffrey M. Peabody
Partner, Barnes & Thornburg LLP

Justice Robert D. Rucker ended his decades-long legal career in 2017 with his retirement from the Indiana Supreme Court. Justice Rucker came to the supreme court after serving eight years as a judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals. His elevation to the supreme court in 1999 still stands as the most recent occasion a court of appeals judge was selected for Indiana’s highest court. (Prior to Justice Rucker, the most recent judge to hold that honor was Justice Donald Mote, who was elevated from what was then known as the Indiana Appellate Court in 1966 into the then-elected position of supreme court justice.)

Justice Rucker’s nearly two-decade long tenure on the court saw him serve with eight other justices (Shepard, Dickson, Sullivan, Boehm, David, Massa, Rush, and Slaughter), including three Chief Justices (Shepard, Dickson, and then Rush). He was the last sitting member of the longest-serving supreme court—the grouping of Chief Justice Shepard and Justices Dickson, Sullivan, Boehm, and Rucker. [Read entire article here]