Hon. Craig D. Hannah was appointed to New York State Supreme Court in 2022 and was subsequently elected to the position that same year. He was then elevated to the appellate division in 2024. He is the former chief judge of the Buffalo City Court and supervising judge of the 11 city courts in New York’s Eighth Judicial District. In 2017, he implemented and served as the presiding judge for the first opioid intervention court in the nation. He has lectured nationally and internationally about the success of the court and is credited with the unique ability to meet people where they are in their journey to recovery as a person in recovery himself for more than 20 years.

Justice Hannah began serving on the bench in 2006 and eventually became the first supervising judge of color in the history of Western New York. He is a member of the Judicial Wellness Committee of the New York State Bar Association and received the Outstanding Jurist Award by the New York State Bar Association’s Criminal Division in 2018. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science from Canisius College and his juris doctor degree from the University of Buffalo Law School.