PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota’s court system is considering a major administrative change that would merge two judicial circuits serving western South Dakota.
The Unified Judicial System’s State Court Administrator’s Office has proposed combining the Fourth and Seventh Judicial Circuits into a single 12-county circuit headquartered in Rapid City. The change would affect counties across the Black Hills region, including Pennington, Meade, Lawrence, Butte, Custer, Fall River, Oglala Lakota, and several others.
Court officials say the merger is designed to improve efficiency, better manage growing caseloads, and reduce duplicated administrative functions currently based in Deadwood, Sturgis, and Rapid City.
Under the proposal, local clerk of courts offices, probation offices, and courthouses would remain open, and judges would continue serving in their current locations. Officials say residents should not see changes to day-to-day court services.
The Unified Judicial System says the merger would also allow resources and workloads to be shared more effectively between urban and rural counties while avoiding requests for additional state funding.
The South Dakota Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the proposal during a public hearing on November 9th in Pierre. Written comments will be accepted through October 26th.
