Three members of the Indiana Supreme Court — Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justices Mark Massa and Derek Molter — won statewide retention votes, affirming their positions for the next 10 years.

The three justices overcame a low-key social media push to vote them off the court over their support of the court’s 4-1 ruling last year upholding the state’s near-total abortion ban.

Rush received about 71% “yes” votes and Massa and Molter about 69% each, according to preliminary results posted by the Indiana Election Division.

Their successful retention votes continue the pattern that has seen no state Supreme Court justice removed by voters since the current system was put in place in 1970.

Rush and Massa were appointed to the court in 2012 by Gov. Mitch Daniels and previously won retention votes in 2014. Gov. Eric Holcomb appointed Molter to the court in 2022 and was facing a retention vote for the first time.

All five justices have been picked by Republican governors from among three finalists selected by the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission.

Indiana Court of Appeals Judges Rudolph Pyle III and Peter Foley also won 10-year retention votes. Daniels appointed Pyle to the appeals court in 2012, while Holcomb appointed Foley in 2022.

Pyle and Foley each topped 70% “yes” votes on their retention question, according to the Election Division.

Rush, who began a new five-year term as chief justice in August, said last month she feared the court could become political if voters decided not to retain justices based on individual rulings.

“What is the impact on the court on another issue that comes up where there’s great diversity of thought?” Rush said during an Oct. 15 session with reporters. “Do you want the justices to have a reasoned, principled opinion on that or become another politicized branch of government?”

Molter wrote the court’s majority opinion that the abortion ban didn’t violate the state Constitution. Rush and Massa concurred with Molter’s opinion.

Justice Geoffrey Slaughter concurred in the judgment through a separate opinion, and Justice Christopher Goff concurred in part and dissented in his opinion. Goff wrote that he believed Hoosier voters should directly decide the “abortion question.”

Tom Davies is a Statehouse reporter for State Affairs Pro Indiana. Reach him at [email protected] or on X @TomDaviesIND.