Second District Judge Linda Copple Trout said she was "still kind of stunned" at becoming the first woman justice in the Idaho Supreme Court's 101-year history.
"Words can't express how flattered I am," Trout said.With Monday's appointment, Gov. Cecil Andrus kept his vow to name a woman to succeed Larry Boyle on the five-member bench. Boyle resigned in March to become a U.S. magistrate.
"I am honored to select such an experienced jurist to become Idaho's first woman on the Supreme Court," Andrus said from Lewiston, where Trout returned from a trial in Orofino to accept her appointment.
"Judge Trout is a native Idahoan reared and educated in Idaho," the governor said. "She has served in the trenches as both a magistrate judge and as a duly elected district court judge, and she has distinguished herself in her professional life."
Trout, 40, was among 13 applicants for Boyle's seat. She was among four nominees the Idaho Judicial Council submitted to Andrus on Monday for the $74,701-a-year position. The council interviewed all 13 applicants Saturday.
Also nominated were Post Falls lawyer Linda Judd, the wife of 1st District Judge James Judd; Twin Falls attorney Lloyd Webb, a former district judge and Supreme Court nominee; and 6th District Judge Lynn Winmill of Pocatello, who urged the council to consider geography in its recommendation to Andrus.
Boyle was from Idaho Falls, but no current member of the court is from eastern Idaho.
Trout received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Idaho and practiced law in Lewiston for six years before becoming a magistrate in 1983. She was elected to the district court in 1991.