The Oklahoma Supreme Court has elected Vice-Chief Justice Richard Darby to serve as Chief Justice and Justice M. John Kane IV to serve as Vice-Chief Justice, as mandated by the Oklahoma Constitution, for the term January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2022.

Darby, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2018, succeeds Chief Justice Noma Gurich.

Darby was formerly a special and associate district judge in Jackson County. He later served as the district judge for the third judicial district, which includes Jackson, Tillman, Kiowa, Greer and Harmon counties, from 1994 until his appointment to the Supreme Court.

Darby is a graduate of Southwestern Oklahoma State University and The University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Kane is a third-generation Osage County attorney and rancher, who practiced law with his grandfather, Matthew J. Kane, Sr., and his father, Matt Kane, Jr., in both Pawhuska and Skiatook.

He is the great-grandson of Matthew John Kane, I, a former Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice and member of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention.

Kane is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and The University of Oklahoma College of Law.

He was a district judge for the 10th judicial district (Osage County) from 2005 until his appointment to the Supreme Court in 2019.