INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Supreme Court is planning a farewell ceremony for retiring Justice Robert Rucker.
Monday’s retirement celebration for Rucker in the court’s Statehouse courtroom will come four days before he retires after 26 years on the bench.
The 70-year-old Rucker said in January he’s retiring five years before reaching the court’s mandatory retirement age because he wants to spend more time visiting his 17 grandchildren, traveling with his wife and exploring other interests.
Rucker was named to the bench in 1999 by Democratic Gov. Frank O’Bannon, becoming only its second black justice ever.
A state commission last month chose county judges Vicki Carmichael, Christopher Goff and Matthew Kincaid as finalists for the court’s vacancy. Gov. Eric Holcomb will choose one of them to succeed Rucker.
