Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Karen Baker cited a non-official memo from her predecessor as the basis for her administrative authority in a mass email sent to judicial employees Monday. Former Chief Justice John Dan Kemp wrote and signed a memo in February 2017,

Justice Jimmy Blacklock, a conservative ally of Gov. Greg Abbott, has been named the new chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

Blacklock is replacing retired Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, while Abbott's legal adviser James Sullivan takes the open spot on the bench.

Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Texas Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Blacklock to be the court’s chief justice and named James Sullivan as a justice Monday. Blacklock succeeds Nathan Hecht, the state’s longest-serving Supreme Court justice,

Family members, politicians and members of the Montana Supreme Court welcomed newly elected Chief Justice Cory Swanson during a swearing-in ceremony Monday in Helena, marking the beginning of a new leadership chapter for the state’s highest court.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned on Tuesday that the United States must continue to uphold "judicial independence."

Abbott originally appointed Blacklock to the high court as the Place 2 justice in 2018. Abbott's general counsel James Sullivan will replace Blacklock as a new justice.

John C. Holstein, retired judge and former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, died Dec. 31 in Springfield. He was 79.