Janine M. Kern

Janine M. Kern (born February 14, 1961) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court.

Education She graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in 1982, and graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1985.

Career She served in the Attorney General of South Dakota's office from 1985 to 1996, and became a circuit court judge in the Seventh Judicial Circuit in 1996. She was appointed to the Supreme Court on November 25, 2014, by Governor Dennis Daugaard, and took office on January 5, 2015. She was sworn in by her father, retired South Dakota circuit court judge Paul James Kern. Kern retired from the court in December 2025.