Missouri Supreme Court Judge Paul Wilson took over as the state's chief justice Thursday, beginning a two-year term atop Missouri's judicial system.
Wilson succeeds Chief Justice George Draper, who remains a member of the Supreme Court. Missouri's chief justice position rotates among the seven members of the court.
Wilson is a Jefferson City native who was a longtime aide to former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, both in the governor's office and when Nixon served as attorney general. Nixon appointed Wilson to temporarily fill a vacancy on the Cole County Circuit Court in 2010 and, after Wilson lost election to that court, Nixon appointed him to the Supreme Court in December 2012.
Voters retained Wilson for a 12-year term on the Supreme Court in November 2014.
Wilson's father, McCormick Wilson, was a longtime municipal and associate circuit judge in Cole County; while his mother, Lorna Wilson, served as director of the Cole County Health Department and was the first executive director of the Missouri Association of Local Public Health Agencies. Wilson is an Eagle Scout and elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Jefferson City.