Chief Justice Rhys S. Hodge

Rhys Shelley Hodge was born on the British island of Anguilla. He attended the East End Elementary School and received his high school education at the Valley Secondary School from which he graduated in 1965.

Following his graduation from high school, he migrated to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, where he attended the College of the Virgin Islands. In 1968, he transferred to Kansas State University from which he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1971. Upon his graduation from Kansas State University, he returned to St. Thomas where he met Jean Dalmida, a native of St. John. They were married in 1973 and have raised four children.

He is a 1977 graduate of Rutgers University School of Law - Camden, New Jersey, where he excelled in his law studies receiving the American Jurisprudence Award for obtaining the highest grade of his class in constitutional law. He was elected by the student body to be the sole student representative on the school's Scholastic Standing Committee, which adjudicated appeals of students dismissed or placed on academic probation. He served a two-year clerkship with the Chief Judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, the late Honorable Almeric L. Christian. He open his own law firm, "The Law Offices of Rhys S. Hodge" in 1979. He maintained an active private law practice for twenty-one years.

Justice Hodge has been admitted to practice before the Courts of the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is a member of the Virgin Islands Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the American Judges Association and the Conference of Chief Justices.

In addition, he is a past President of the Virgin Islands Bar, past Chairman of the Ethics and Grievance Committee and past Chairman of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the Virgin Islands Bar Association. He has also served as a member of Lawyers Advisory Committee of the District Court of the Virgin Islands and as a member of the Committee of Bar Examiners of the Virgin Islands. For the past six years, he has served as a member of the Virgin Islands Judicial Council.

He has been active in community affairs serving from 1981-2000 as a member of the Executive Board of the V.I. Council of the Boy Scouts of America and as its President in 1991-1992. He has also served in the past as a member of the Board of Directors of the V.I. Council of the Girls Scouts of the U.S.A. and Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Virgin Islands Montessori School.

He was first sworn in as a judge of the Superior Court on June 23, 2000. Effective July 1, 2006, Judge Hodge became the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, a position he held until his elevation to the Supreme Court.

On July 19, 2006, Judge Hodge, together with Judges Maria M. Cabret and Ive A. Swan, were nominated by Governor Turnbull as the three initial justices of the new Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands. The Governor designated him to be the first Chief Justice for a four year term. On October 27, 2006, Judge Hodge together with Judges Cabret and Swan were unanimously confirmed by the Twenty-Sixth Legislature as justices of the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands for terms of ten years each.