A career spent standing up for South Dakota
ABOUT MARTY JACKLEY
Marty Jackley was raised in Sturgis. He graduated with honors from the South Dakota School of Mines with a degree in electrical engineering, earned his law degree from USD, and clerked for then Chief Federal Judge Richard Battey.
He became a partner at the Rapid City law firm of Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson and Ashmore, handling criminal law, civil law, and complex business litigation. During that time he also served as a Special Assistant Attorney General prosecuting controlled substance felonies.
In 2006, Marty was appointed and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. Attorney for South Dakota, where he was named Prosecutor of the Year in 2008. From 2009 to 2019 he served as South Dakota's Attorney General. In 2022, voters elected him to a fourth term.
His fellow attorneys general named him National Attorney General of the Year in 2016 and have chosen him to lead their national organizations again and again, most recently electing him President-Elect in December 2025.
Marty is endorsed by President Donald J. Trump and holds an A+ rating from the NRA. He hunts, fishes, and spends family time at his farm at Vale and his ranch near Pierre. His son Michael graduated from SDSU in mechanical engineering and is headed to law school at USD. His daughter Isabella is studying pre-veterinary medicine at the University of Nevada.
The oath, from his father's hand
Mike Jackley practiced law in Sturgis and served as Meade County State's Attorney. In 1986 he ran for Attorney General, and the example he set stayed with his son.
Twenty-three years later, his son Marty took the oath of that same office, and Mike administered it himself. In the Jackley family, the law is a duty handed down from father to son.
The record
Appointed and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Prosecutor of the Year, 2008.
Appointed in 2009, then reelected three times. National Attorney General of the Year, 2016.
Senior partner at Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson and Ashmore. State's Attorney for Jones and Haakon counties. Special Prosecutor for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. Distinguished Service Award, 2019.
Chairman of the National Association of Attorneys General (2015), the Western Attorneys General, and the National Attorneys General Alliance (2023–24). Elected President-Elect, December 2025.
Media
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