Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court is honoring Justice Ann Lamar of Senatobia as she prepares to retire.

The court is holding a ceremony on Thursday for Lamar, who didn't seek re-election. She will be succeeded in January by Bobby Chamberlin of Hernando, who's currently a circuit judge.

Then-Gov. Haley Barbour appointed Lamar to the Supreme Court in 2007. She had been a circuit judge more than five years in DeSoto, Panola, Tallahatchie, Tate and Yalobusha counties. Lamar previously served as a district attorney and worked in private law practice.

Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. says in a statement that Lamar was "scholarly in her writing, impartial in her actions ... and decisive in her votes and opinions."

Lamar was the third woman to serve on Mississippi's highest court.