PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden has appointed Seventh Circuit Presiding Judge Robert Gusinsky to serve as a supreme court justice for the First Supreme District, the governor’s office announced Tuesday.
The vacancy was created by the retirement of Justice Janine Kern. The First Supreme District consists of the counties of Custer, Lawrence, Meade and Pennington.
“Justice Kern has done a remarkable job serving our state with integrity and fairness,” Rhoden said in a news release, “and I have no doubt that Judge Gusinsky will pick up the torch with the same commitment and conviction.”
Gusinsky was born in Latvia. After emigrating with his parents through Israel and Germany, he settled in California and became a U.S. citizen.
Gusinsky enjoyed his earlier career as an airline pilot before changing course to pursue law. He enrolled at the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law in 1993. Following graduation, he practiced as a trial lawyer at Lynn, Jackson, Shultz & Lebrun and later at Clayborne, Loos, Strommen & Gusinsky in Rapid City.
Gusinsky went on to serve in the U.S. Attorney’s Office before being appointed to the Seventh Circuit bench by former Gov. Dennis Daugaard. In 2024, the chief justice named Gusinsky the presiding judge of the Seventh Circuit.
