The first African-American woman to serve as presiding judge in St. Louis has gotten a promotion.
Gov. Mike Parson announced Wednesday that he had appointed Circuit Judge Robin Ransom to the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District. Ransom will replace Lisa Van Amburg, who retired in August.
Ransom started out as an assistant public defender in St. Louis County, then switched sides and worked briefly for St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, before joining St. Louis County’s family court in 1996. Democratic Gov. Bob Holden appointed her to be a family-court commissioner in St. Louis in 2002, before Republican Gov. Matt Blunt named her a circuit judge in 2008.
She was elected presiding judge of the 22nd Circuit in 2018 and had started her duties in that role on Jan. 2. A spokesman for the court says an election for her replacement in that role could happen in April.
Follow Rachel on Twitter: @rlippmann
