Governor LePage Announces Judicial Re-Appointment of Chief Justice

January 28, 2016

For Immediate Release: Thursday, January 28, 2016
Contact: Adrienne Bennett, Press Secretary, 207-287-2531

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage today announced the re-appointment of Hon. Leigh Ingalls Saufley, Chief Justice, Maine Supreme Judicial Court. This marks the third term for her as Chief Justice.

“The highest standards of integrity both professionally and personally are required of our judges and justices. Chief Justice Saufley has demonstrated these qualities and is widely admired in the judiciary. I have confidence that she will continue to prove to be a great Chief Justice,” said Governor LePage.

In April of 1990, Governor John R. McKernan appointed Chief Justice Saufley to the District Court. Governor McKernan appointed her to the Superior Court in 1993, and in 1997 Governor Angus S. King appointed her to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. On December 6, 2001, Governor King swore her in as Maine’s first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. Governor John E. Baldacci swore in Chief Justice Saufley for a second term as Chief Justice on February 27, 2009.

Chief Justice Saufley graduated from the University of Maine at Orono, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1976. She is a 1980 graduate of the University of Maine School of Law. She was with Office of the Maine Attorney General for nearly ten years, becoming one of Maine's first female deputy attorneys general.

Chief Justice Saufley is a member of the Conference of Chief Justices, the Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction of the Judicial Conference of the United States, and she is the recipient of numerous awards, including the International Women's Forum, Woman Who Makes a Difference Award.