Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
From Judgepedia
| Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court |
|---|
|
| Sitting justices |
| Margaret Marshall John Greaney Roderick Ireland Francis Spina Judith Cowin Robert Cordy Margot Botsford |
| Former justices |
| Massachusetts on Judgepedia |
Contents |
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.
History
The court was established in 1692 as the "Superior Court of Judicature". Its name was changed to the Supreme Judicial Court after the adoption of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780.
Functions
The seven Justices hear appeals on a broad range of criminal and civil cases between September and May.
Single Justice sessions are held each week throughout the year for certain motions pertaining to cases on trial or on appeal, bail reviews, bar discipline proceedings, petitions for admission to the bar, and a variety of other statutory proceedings. The Associate Justices sit as Single Justices each month on a rotation schedule.
The full bench renders approximately 200 written decisions each year; the single justices decide a total of approximately 600 cases annually.
In addition to its appellate functions, the SJC is responsible for the general superintendence of the judiciary and of the bar, the creation or approval of rules for the operations of all the state courts, and, in certain instances, providing advisory opinions, upon request, to the Governor and Massachusetts General Court on various legal issues.
The SJC also has oversight responsibility in varying degrees, according to statutes, with several affiliated agencies of the judicial branch, including the Board of Bar Overseers, the Board of Bar Examiners, the Clients' Security Board, the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, the Massachusetts Mental Health Legal Advisors’ Committee, and Correctional Legal Services, Inc.
The SJC is located at the John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02108, which also houses the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Social Law Library.
Landmark cases
- Rex v. Preston (1770) - Captain Thomas Preston, the Officer of the Day during the Boston Massacre, was acquitted when the jury was unable to determine whether he had ordered the troops to fire. The defense counsel in the case was a young attorney named John Adams, later the second President of the United States.
- Rex v. Wemms, et al. (1770) - Six soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre were found not guilty, and two more — the only two proven to have fired — were found guilty of manslaughter.
- Commonwealth v. Jennison (1783) - The Court declared slavery unconstitutional in the state of Massachusetts by allowing slaves to sue their masters for freedom. Boston lawyer, and member of the Constitutional Convention of 1779, John Lowell, upon the adoption of Article I for inclusion in the Bill of Rights, exclaimed: "...I will render my services as a lawyer gratis to any slave suing for his freedom if it is withheld from him..."[1] With this case, he fulfilled his promise, and Slavery in Massachusetts no longer had any legal standing.
- Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) - The Court established that trade unions were not necessarily criminal or conspiring organizations if they did not advocate violence or illegal activities in their attempts to gain recognition through striking. This legalized the existence of non-socialist or non-violent trade organizations, though trade unions would continue to be harassed legally through anti-trust suits and injunctions.
- Roberts v. Boston (1850) - The Court established the "separate but equal" doctrine that would later be used in Plessy v. Ferguson by maintaining that the law gave school boards complete authority in assigning students to schools and that they could do so along racial lines if they deemed it appropriate.
- Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003) - The Court ruled that the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples violated the Massachusetts Constitution.
Composition
The Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts with the consent of the Massachusetts Governor's Council. The Justices hold office until the mandatory retirement age of seventy, like all other Massachusetts judges.
Current composition
The currently serving justices are:
- Margaret Marshall (Chief)
- John Greaney
- Roderick Ireland
- Francis Spina
- Judith Cowin
- Robert Cordy
- Margot Botsford
Notable members
- William Cushing later served on the U.S. Supreme Court
- Horace Gray later served on the U.S. Supreme Court
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. later served on the U.S. Supreme Court
List of Chief Justices
| # | Chief Justice | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Cushing | 1782 | 1789 |
| 2 | Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent | 1790 | 1791 |
| 3 | Francis Dana | 1791 | 1806 |
| 4 | Theophilus Parsons | 1806 | 1813 |
| 5 | Samuel Sewall | 1814 | 1814 |
| 6 | Isaac Parker | August 24, 1814 | July 25, 1830 |
| 7 | Lemuel Shaw | August 30, 1830 | August 21, 1860 |
| 8 | George Tyler Bigelow | September 7, 1860 | December 31, 1867 |
| 9 | Reuben Atwater Chapman | February 7, 1868 | June 28, 1873 |
| 10 | Horace Gray | September 5, 1873 | January 9, 1882 |
| 11 | Marcus Morton | January 16, 1882 | August 27, 1890 |
| 12 | Walbridge A. Field | September 4, 1890 | July 15, 1899 |
| 13 | Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. | August 2, 1899 | December 8, 1902 |
| 14 | Marcus Perrin Knowlton | December 17, 1902 | September 7, 1911 |
| 15 | Arthur Prentice Rugg | September 20, 1911 | June 12, 1938 |
| 16 | Fred Tarbell Field | June 30, 1938 | July 24, 1947 |
| 17 | Stanley Elroy Qua | August 6, 1947 | September 6, 1956 |
| 18 | Raymond Sanger Wilkins | September 13, 1956 | September 1, 1970 |
| 19 | G. Joseph Tauro | 1970 | 1976 |
| 20 | Edward F. Hennessey | 1976 | April 19, 1989 |
| 21 | Paul J. Liacos | June 20, 1989 | September 30, 1996 |
| 22 | Herbert P. Wilkins | October 1, 1996 | August 31, 1999 |
| 23 | Margaret Marshall | October 14, 1999 | Incumbent (faces mandatory retirement on September 1, 2014) |
Removal From Office
"Massachusetts judges may be removed in one of three ways:
The commission on judicial conduct investigates complaints of judicial misconduct. Following a formal hearing, the commission may recommend to the supreme judicial court removal, retirement, or reprimand of a judge. The governor, with consent of the governor's council, may remove judges upon the joint address of both houses of the general court. The governor, with consent of the governor's council, may also retire judges because of advanced age or mental or physical disability. Judges may be impeached by the house of representatives and convicted by the senate."[2]
See Also
External links
- Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Official Site
- List of Chief Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court
- Supreme Judicial Court, Office of the Reporter of Decisions
References
- ↑ Lowell, Delmar R., The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899 (p 35); Rutland VT, The Tuttle Company, 1899; ISBN 9780788415678.
- ↑ Methods of Selection: Removal of Judges
Portions of this article have been taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Copyright Notice can be found here.
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