Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush addressed a bevy of court-related issues when meeting with reporters Tuesday — including technology and safety.
The Indiana Supreme Court received 704 cases in fiscal year 2025 and disposed of 692 of them. Of the opinions issued by the high court, 77% were unanimous. In a recent addition to their workload, the court has handled three capital cases in the last calendar year.
Rush noted that a tight state budget meant she didn’t receive matching dollars she had hoped to use to shore up courtroom security around the state.
“Court security and threats to the judiciary in my time as a judge are at an all-time high,” she said. “And I have judges that hear cases and sentence people with no security in the courtroom. It’s just dangerous.”
“Temperatures are up,” she acknowledged.
Read the Indiana Supreme Court’s annual report here.
Such concerns aren’t unique to Indiana. Police are investigating a Saturday fire that burned down the home of a South Carolina circuit court judge, who had reportedly received death threats for weeks related to her work.
But Rush was pleased the General Assembly did provide $6 million over the next two years for a single integrated system to collect and report accurate statewide jail population data — INjail. So far, six counties are on the system but 27 others have expressed interest or signed up to implement it.
It is up to individual county sheriffs to participate.
“It’s going to be a slow roll,” Rush said — depending on funding available to add counties.
There are currently 20 different jail management software systems throughout Indiana and the new system will make it easier to track offenders, cases and real-time jail data.
Overall, Rush said she is glad to see Indiana’s courts issue full written opinions and stay nonpartisan.
“In some ways, it’s just nice that I think our Indiana courts are boring,” She said. “I’ll stay boring and hard-working. I think that works.”
Rush acknowledged a recent uptick in criticism of the judiciary, and encouraged people to make sure they have complete information before condemning decisions. She said cases are sometimes charged a certain way for a reason or there are other situational variables not included in the state’s filing system.
Rush noted reporters used to cover sentencing hearings and provide some of that context.
“I think public debate on the judiciary is fine … I just wish it was always correct,” she said.
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