Dallin Oaks, Former Utah Supreme Court Justice, Tapped to Lead Mormon Church

Dallin Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice and longtime official of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), is the church’s 18th president, officials said Tuesday.

The 93-year-old succeeds the late Russell M. Nelson, a 101-year-old who took the office of “prophet, seer, and revelator” in 2017. Nelson died on the evening of Sept. 27 and was buried last week.

A tragic shooting and arson attack at a Grand Blanc, Michigan, LDS meetinghouse unfolded just hours later on the morning of Sept. 28, when 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford rammed his truck through the church doors. The veteran opened fire on worshippers and set the building ablaze, killing four and wounding eight in an apparent act of targeted anti-Mormon violence before police fatally shot the attacker.

“We do not have the answers to all of the world’s problems,” Oaks said during an announcement broadcast from the church’s Salt Lake City headquarters. “They’ve not been revealed. But what we do know is that we are all children of heavenly parents, and that we are called to serve all of the children of God in this wonderful, restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

He added, “I accept with humility the responsibility that God has placed upon me and commit my whole heart and soul to the service to which I’ve been called.”

Oaks said church apostles Henry B. Eyring, 92, and D. Todd Christofferson, 80, will be his first and second counselors in the group’s First Presidency, the top leadership level. Jeffrey R. Holland, 84, now becomes president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the second tier of leadership. A new member of that group will be named by Oaks in the coming months.

The denomination—popularly known as the Mormon or LDS church—has 17.5 million members worldwide, of which just under 7 million reside in the United States. It supports 31,676 congregations worldwide and 202 operating temples, where ceremonies to worship God and His ways are performed.

Along with “The Book of Mormon,” which the church advertises as “another testament of Jesus Christ,” the organization is known for its doorbell-ringing missionaries and world-famous Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

A native of Provo, Utah, Oaks graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1954, and the University of Chicago Law School three years later. He both practiced law and taught law in Chicago before becoming BYU president in 1971. Nine years later, he was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court, leaving in 1984 to become an LDS apostle.

Oaks has placed an emphasis on religious liberty and the U.S. Constitution during his public career. He has called the Constitution a “divinely inspired” document.