Amanda Jones Tollison took her oath as a Mississippi Supreme Court Justice on Tuesday, putting three women on the court at the same time for the first time in state history and becoming only the seventh woman to serve on the state Supreme Court in its 208-year-long history.
Chief Justice Mike Randolph administered Tollison’s oath of office.
Randolph emphasized that the oath Tollison and her fellow judges and justices took differs from the oaths taken in the other branches of Mississippi government in two major ways.
First, Mississippi judges and justices swear to “administer justice without respect to person,” Randolph said after administering Tollison’s oath of office.
“That is in no one else’s oath,” Randolph said on Tuesday. “Legislators, if they want to kick somebody around, they ain’t swear they wouldn’t, but she has just did in front of y’all.”
Mississippi judicial oaths are also unique in that they swear to treat people equally regardless of economic status.
“You just sit down, read the law, and make a decision,” Randolph said. “I know she’s going to do a fine job.”
‘It Is Not Our Gender That Got Us Here’
The historic moment was made possible after two male Mississippi Supreme Court Justices left the state court for federal service following presidential appointments.
Philadelphia resident Jenifer B. Branning was the first of the three women now serving on the Mississippi Supreme Court to take her oath of office after being elected in November 2024 while still serving as a state senator. Branning is the first woman ever elected to the state’s supreme court without having previously been appointed to fill a vacancy, a Tuesday press release from the state judiciary said.
“This is certainly a significant historical moment for our state’s highest court, and I count it a distinct honor to be a part of this moment,” Branning said in a Tuesday press release.
Branning emphasized that Mississippi’s judiciary “prioritizes qualifications, work ethic and commitment to the rule of law over quotas.”
“While it is wonderful to have three women on the court, it was not our gender that got us here, but rather our decades of hard work and display of excellence in the legal profession,” Branning said. “I actually see this moment as a testament to the depth of talent among women lawyers in Mississippi.”
Tollison’s Tuesday appointment filled the position left empty by former Justice James D. Maxwell II, now a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Maxwell took office on December 18, 2025, after President Donald Trump nominated him for the position that August.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also appointed Southaven resident Celeste Embrey Wilson to the court after Trump appointed former Justice Robert P. Chamberlin to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in August 2025. Chamberlain took office in December, and his place on the Mississippi Supreme Court remained vacant until Wilson’s Aug. 1 appointment.
“It’s not lost on me that it is a first. I’ve never really thought of myself as a statistic, but I’m honored to be a part of this monumental event,” Wilson said in the Tuesday press release.
Both Branning and Wilson attended Tollison’s oath ceremony, a Tuesday press release from the Mississippi Judiciary said.
There has only been more than one woman on the Mississippi Supreme Court at the same time twice before in state history, the Tuesday press release noted.
With Branning’s election and the appointments of Tollison and Wilson, there will be multiple women on the Mississippi Supreme Court for the longest continuous span in state history as well.
The terms of late justices Lenore Prather and Kay Cobb overlapped between April 1999 and January 2001; former justices Ann H. Lamar and Dawn Beam had overlapping terms between February and December of 2016.
“We stand here today thanks to the trail (Prather) blazed as a lawyer, a Chancellor, a Justice and Chief Justice,” Tollison said in the Tuesday press release, adding that she hopes that seeing three women serving on the Supreme Court inspires more women to become lawyers and judges.
The proportion of women on the Mississippi Supreme Court now matches the proportion of women practicing law in Mississippi for the first time at 33.3%, the press release said. Comparatively, women make up about 41% of lawyers nationally, a 2024 American Bar Association national lawyer population survey showed.
About 50% of Mississippi Court of Appeals and county-level judges are women, while they make up about 27% of circuit court judges, the press release said.
Tollison Served as Counsel for Barbour
Tollison served as counsel to former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour from 2008 through 2012, advising the former governor on legislative and policy matters, including judicial appointments, elections, budget issues and disaster recovery efforts.
“This is a wonderful appointment to our Supreme Court,” Barbour said after the ceremony. “Amanda Tollison has the broad experience, the keen intellect, and the perfect attitude for a Supreme Court Justice, and I congratulate Governor Reeves on his choice.”
Tollison’s parents, a teacher and a dairy farmer, raised her in Amite County. She earned her law degree at the University of Mississippi School of Law after completing an undergraduate degree in political science at Mississippi State University.
She then began her legal career at Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP and Phelps Dunbar LLP, where she practiced commercial and product liability law when defending clients in state and federal courts.
“Amanda has distinguished herself throughout her career as an excellent attorney, respected leader in The Mississippi Bar, and dedicated public servant,” Reeves said in an Aug. 17 press release announcing Tollison’s appointment. “Her extensive legal experience, knowledge of Mississippi’s legal system, and longstanding commitment to public service make her exceptionally qualified for the bench.”
Prior to her service with Barbour, Tollison led the pro bono legal service Disaster Legal Assistance Program, helping thousands of Mississippians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina during her tenure as president of the Young Lawyers Division of the Mississippi Bar in 2005.
Tollison, an Oxford, Mississippi, resident, began working as an attorney at Butler Snow LLP in 2012, where she worked on administrative and regulatory law, governmental litigation and election and campaign finance law for more than a decade. She is a partner at the firm.
She served as president of the Mississippi Bar from July 2019 to July 2020, has been a member of the Board of Bar Commissioners and is a trustee and fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. Tollison’s husband, former Mississippi Sen. Gray Tollison, serves as a Third Circuit Judicial District Court Judge.
University of Mississippi School of Law Dean Frederick G. Slabach attended Tollison’s oath ceremony.
“We congratulate Justice Tollison on this significant professional milestone and look forward to the impact of her service on Mississippi’s highest court,” a Tuesday Facebook post from the law school said of the alumna.
Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, appointments to Mississippi’s Supreme Court are not lifelong.
Tollison’s term ends on January 3, 2028, though voters can choose to reelect her if she runs for another term. Video footage of her oath ceremony can be found here.
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