Patricia J. DeVaney (born October 30, 1968) is an associate justice of the

South Dakota Supreme Court The South Dakota Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of South Dakota. It is composed of a chief justice and four associate justices appointed by the governor. One justice is selected from each of five geographic appointment districts ...

, appointed by Governor

Kristi Noem Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem ( ; née Arnold; born November 30, 1971) is an American politician serving as the 8th United States secretary of homeland security since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, she served from 2019 to 2025 as the 33rd ...

in 2019. She became the 52nd member of the court, succeeding the seat vacated by the death of Justice Steven L. Zinter.

Early life and education

She graduated summa cum laude from the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is t ...

Vermillion, South Dakota Vermillion (; "The Place Where Vermilion is Obtained") is a city and the county seat of Clay County. It is in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, United States, and is the state's 12th-most populous city. According to the 2020 census, the ...

, in 1990, and from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

in 1993.

Career

After graduating law school, DeVaney served in the state attorney general’s office from 1993 to 2012 as a trial lawyer and an appellate lawyer. In 2012, DeVaney was appointed as a Circuit Court Judge by Governor

Dennis Daugaard Dennis Martin Daugaard (born June 11, 1953) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 32nd governor of South Dakota from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the first chief executive of a U.S. state to be the ...

. She served as a circuit court judge until her elevation to the South Dakota Supreme Court in 2019.

South Dakota Supreme Court

On April 4, 2019, Governor

appointed DeVaney to the South Dakota Supreme Court, to the seat vacated by the death of Justice Steven Zinter. She was sworn in on May 23, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeVaney, Patricia 1968 births Living people 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges American women lawyers American lawyers Justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court People from Miller, South Dakota University of South Dakota alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni