Samuel T. Wright III

Samuel T. Wright III is an Associate Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court. He elected to the Supreme Court in November 2015.

Early life

Wright was born and raised in Letcher County, Kentucky.

Education

He received an associate degree from Hazard Community College and his bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky. He earned his J.D. from University of Kentucky College of Law.

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 Kentucky Supreme Court. 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 married his college sweetheart. They have two sons who live in Eastern Kentucky; one is a wildlife biologist, and the other was studying computer programming when Wright was elected to the Supreme Court.

Electoral history

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