John R. Stegner (born November 8, 1953) is a former associate justice of the

Idaho Supreme Court The Idaho Supreme Court is the state supreme court of Idaho and is composed of the chief justice and four associate justices. The decisions of the Idaho Supreme Court are binding on all other Idaho state courts. The only court that may reverse ...

and former state district court judge.

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Grangeville, Idaho Grangeville is the largest city in and the county seat of Idaho County, Idaho, United States, in the north central part of the state. Its population was 3,141 at the 2010 census, down from 3,228 in 2000. Geography According to the United Sta ...

, Stegner is the youngest of four sons of Charles and He earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1977 from

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacifi ...

and his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

University of Idaho College of Law The University of Idaho College of Law is the law school of the University of Idaho, with its main location in Moscow and a second campus in the state capital of Boise. As of the entering class of 2017–18, students may take all three years of ins ...

in 1982.

Career

Stegner was in private practice in Lewiston for twelve years with Clements, Brown & McNichols. He clerked for the late United States District Judge for two years and worked for the family business, Stegner Grain & Seed Co.

State judicial service

Stegner was previously a judge of the state's second judicial district, based in Moscow. He was appointed by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Phil Batt Philip Eugene Batt (born March 4, 1927) is an American politician who served as the 29th governor of Idaho from 1995 to 1999. Batt had previously served as the 35th lieutenant governor of Idaho, Chair of the Idaho Republican Party, and as a memb ...

in November 1996, and served on the court from 1997 to 2018.

Idaho Supreme Court

In 2017, he was considered for a vacancy on the Idaho Supreme Court created by the retirement of

Daniel T. Eismann Daniel Thomas Eismann (February 15, 1947 – June 4, 2024) was an American lawyer and judge from Idaho. He was a retired justice of the Idaho Supreme Court. Elected to the court in 2000, he was chief justice from 2007 to 2011, and stepped down f ...

, but Governor

Butch Otter Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2006, and reelected in 2010, and 2014. Otter ...

appointed

G. Richard Bevan George Richard Bevan (born May 5, 1959) is an American attorney and jurist who currently is the chief justice of Idaho. He previously served as an Idaho district court judge from 2003 until 2017, when he was appointed to the supreme court. Early ...

in late August. Another vacancy soon arose with the sudden retirement of Warren Jones, and Otter appointed Stenger to the supreme court on May 22, 2018. He was selected from among four finalists named by the Idaho Judicial Council after public interviews with 14 applicants, including six sitting judges. Stegner is the only justice on the state's highest court from the

Idaho Panhandle The Idaho Panhandle—locally known as North Idaho—is a salient region of the U.S. state of Idaho encompassing the state's 10 northernmost counties: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, and Shosh ...

. He ran unopposed in the 2020 election, held during the state primary in the spring. In May 2023, Stenger sent a letter to Governor

Brad Little Bradley Jay Little (born February 15, 1954) is an American politician serving as the 33rd governor of Idaho since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Idaho from 2009 to 2019 and as an Ida ...

, announcing he would retire on October 31, 2023.

References

External links

* Living people 1953 births 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Justices of the Idaho Supreme Court Idaho state court judges University of Idaho College of Law alumni Whitman College alumni {{Idaho-state-judge-stub