Federal judge steps down to enjoy retirement
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - After serving as a federal judge for almost 15 years, United States District Judge Jeffrey Viken will no longer be returning to the federal bench.
After 14 years, Judge Jeffrey Viken is leaving the bench to enjoy the rest of his life outside of the courtroom with his wife. However, his position has yet to be filled, leaving many to wonder if court proceedings will now take longer to be resolved.
“I don’t think it will slow the court processes in the least, these are extremely experienced judges, and they work very effectively. They have teams of staff as well, law clerks, and working with the clerk’s office. I would expect the public will really see no difference,” said Viken.
Judge Viken’s docket of cases is being transferred to other judges, and he says the judicial process will continue running efficiently.
“It will look like the court is unaffected in terms of public service. Civil and criminal cases are being handled by my colleagues. As I mentioned, Chief Judge Lang, Judge Schreier, Judge Piersol, Judge Kornmann, they’ve all taken on substantial parts of my docket, and as of this week I no longer have any cases assigned civil or criminal to me. Those judges will handle the docket here, and they’ll be coming in and trying the very large number of cases we have for trial,” Viken continued.
Viken says that he is going to miss the public service aspect of this job but is looking forward to seeing new parts of the world alongside his wife.
“So, we are very ready now to move onto the next phase of life. We have always had a great many interests outside of the law, and we are both actively involved in volunteer work and nonprofit organizations, and so we will continue doing that work. We have always traveled, internationally and in the United States, more than 43 years of marriage. That will increase, we’ll have the freedom now without work obligations to continue travels, meeting people. We have friends, and I have family in Europe and Norway, so we’ll continue those adventures,” stated Viken.
Friday was Viken’s last day.
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