Samuel T. Wright III (born 1955) is a former justice of the

Kentucky Supreme Court The Kentucky Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Prior to its creation by constitutional amendment in 1975, the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky. The Kentucky Court of Ap ...

. He was elected to the Supreme Court in November 2015, and lost re-election in 2020.

Early life

Wright was born and raised in

Letcher County, Kentucky Letcher County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 21,548. Its county seat is Whitesburg, Kentucky, Whitesburg. It was created in 1842 f ...

Education

He received an associate degree from Hazard Community College and his bachelor's degree from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

. He earned his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

University of Kentucky College of Law The University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, also known as UK Rosenberg College of Law, is the law school of the University of Kentucky located in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded initially from a law program at Transylvania Univers ...

Judicial career

Wright previously worked as a trial judge for more than 23 years in Letcher County. He was serving in his fourth term as Letcher County Circuit Court judge when he was elected to the Supreme Court. He was first appointed to fill a vacancy on Circuit Court by Governor Brereton Jones in 1993 and was then elected. Prior to taking the Circuit Court bench, Justice Wright was the District Court judge for Letcher County for a year. Prior to becoming a judge, Justice Wright was practicing law as an attorney. After graduating law school in 1981, he returned to Eastern Kentucky to join the law firm of Cook and Wright. He went on to open his own law practice in 1989.

Kentucky Supreme Court

In January 2015 Wright filed paperwork to run for a seat on the

. He was elected on November 3, 2015, defeating his challenger Janet Stumbo, and was sworn in on December 7, 2015. He replaced David Allen Barber, who was appointed in March 2015.

Personal life

Wright and his wife have two sons living in eastern Kentucky. One is a wildlife biologist; as of 2015 the other was studying computer programming.

Electoral history

Source
Commonwealth of Kentucky, For the office of Justice of the Supreme Court, November 3, 2015

References

External links

Official profile of Justice Wright
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1955 births Living people 21st-century American judges People from Letcher County, Kentucky Justices of the Kentucky Supreme Court University of Kentucky College of Law alumni {{Kentucky-state-judge-stub