KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Supreme Court chose Justice Holly Kirby to serve as its next chief justice.
Kirby will begin her 2-year term starting Sept. 1, 2023. She is succeeding Justice Roger Page, who was appointed in 2021.
Gov. Bill Lee will hold a ceremonial investiture for Kirby on Oct. 4 at 9 a.m. at the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Tennessee State Capitol, and she will celebrate with a reception in her home city of Memphis later in fall.
“I am honored to have been chosen chief justice by my colleagues on the Court,” Justice Kirby said. “I have the highest respect for Justice Page, my predecessor as chief justice, Justice Bivins, also a former chief justice, Justice Campbell, and now Justice Tarwater. Tennessee has the finest judiciary in the country; our judges are dedicated public servants who serve with integrity. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with all of them to strengthen public confidence in our courts, access to justice for vulnerable citizens, and the rule of law in Tennessee.”
Former Gov. Bill Haslam appointed Kirby to the State Supreme Court in 2014. Before her appointment, she served nearly 19 years on the Tennessee Court of Appeals and was the first woman in state history to do so.
Kirby said one of her goals is to oversee and ensure Tennessee courts are prepared to handle the rollout of new technology over the coming years. The state said it is preparing to install new tech infrastructure for the judiciary, calling it the largest such investment in state history.
“Going forward, smart technology for the judicial system will be crucial for our judges to do their jobs, to extract needed data for our State’s decision-makers, and for all Tennesseans to be able to access our courts,” Kirby said.
Kirby is one of two justices representing the Western Grand Division on the five-member court along with Page.
The news comes as Justice Sharon Lee from East Tennessee, who also served as chief justice between 2014 and 2016, is getting ready to retire at the end of the month. She will be succeeded by longtime Knoxville attorney Dwight Tarwater, who begins his term on Sept. 1.
Lee was the court's lone Democrat. The new panel will consist entirely of Republicans.
