For the fourth time since 1990, E. Riley Anderson of Knoxville has been elected chief justice of the five-member Tennessee Supreme Court. He succeeds former Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota, III, who retired from the court effective Sept. 2.
In an order filed Friday, the court unanimously said Anderson will serve in the position until Drowota's seat on the court is filled by Gov. Phil Bredesen and the full court elects a new chief justice. The chief justice elected by the court will serve until Aug. 31, 2006, which would have been the end of Drowota's four-year term.
Anderson was elected to the Supreme Court in 1990 and again in 1998 for eight-year terms. He served as chief justice from October 1994-May 1996 and was re-elected chief justice in July 1997 and served until August 1998, when he was elected to a four-year term. The court adopted a rule in December 1997 providing for four-year terms for the chief justice. Anderson stepped down from the position Sept. 1, 2001, and Drowota was elected to succeed him.
“I am honored by the confidence of my colleagues to lead the court during this time of transition,” Anderson said.
Anderson was appointed by Gov. Ned McWherter to the Tennessee Court of Appeals in 1987 and was elected in 1988. He remained on the Court of Appeals until his election to the Supreme Court in 1990. Prior to becoming a judge, Anderson practiced law in Oak Ridge.
Anderson earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Tennessee.