Idaho Supreme Court justice’s approach called ‘principled, deliberate.’ He’s retiring

Idaho Supreme Court Justice John R. Stegner has announced that he will retire from judicial service on Oct. 31 and eventually return to private practice as an attorney, ending a total of 26 years on the bench.

Gov. Phil Batt appointed Stegner to be a district court judge in Latah County in 1997, and Gov. Butch Otter appointed him to the Idaho Supreme Court in 2018, according to a news release Tuesday from the State of Idaho Judicial Branch.

“It was always a goal of mine to be on the bench,” Stegner said in the release.

Born in Grangeville, Stegner said he once considered a career in education but chose to attend law school at the University of Idaho. He clerked for a federal judge in Boise before developing a practice at a legal firm in Lewiston.

“Nobody wants to be sued. Nobody wants to sue,” Stegner said. “But our court system enables us to resolve those disputes successfully.”

Stegner has chaired the Idaho Supreme Court Education Committee since 2019, helping train many judges and collaborate on education projects across the courts, the release said. But treatment courts became Stegner’s passion, as he established two in Latah County during his time as a district judge.

“He once performed a wedding for two treatment court graduates and recalls parents approaching him at graduations to say, ‘Thank you for giving me my child back,’” according to the release. “In an interview last year, he described presiding over treatment courts as ‘the most gratifying work I have done as a judge.’”

As he prepares to leave the bench, Stegner said he’s “concerned by society questioning the legitimacy of America’s courts” in a way that’s never happened.

“If we lose the independence of the judiciary, it’s a loss we will never be able to overcome,” he said.

Stegner thanked his “wonderful, diligent, hardworking” colleagues on the state’s highest court — there are five Idaho Supreme Court justices — and said he learned these lessons in a long career: Don’t stoop to match others’ contentious behavior and check your ego at the courtroom door.

“Justice Stegner brings a principled, deliberate approach to both the appeals we resolve and his vision of what Idaho’s courts should be,” Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan said in the release. “His drive to better ourselves and our work has improved justice for Idahoans. We wish him the best as he prepares for retirement.”

Stegner intends to serve as a senior justice in retirement until pending appellate cases are resolved, the release said.

The Idaho Supreme Court’s most recent high-profile case involved the state’s strict new abortion laws, which were challenged by Planned Parenthood. Stegner was part of the minority in the 3-2 decision that upheld three Idaho laws, and he provided the strongest dissent.

“Idaho women have a fundamental right to obtain an abortion because pregnancy — and whether that pregnancy may be terminated — has a profound effect on pregnant women’s inalienable right to liberty, as well as their rights to life and safety,” Stegner wrote in January.

Under state law, Gov. Brad Little will appoint a justice to replace Stegner from a list of applicants provided by the Idaho Judicial Council. That person will serve the rest of Stegner’s term, which ends in January 2027.