For her part, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, a Weld appointee of a highly liberal bent, possesses a legal education and professional legal experience more suited to an appointee to the Capetown Superior Court in her native South Africa than the the highest state court in Massachusetts.
Nevertheless, Justice Marshall owes her appointment as an Associate Justice (later elevated to Chief Justice by Cellucci) mostly to her personal connections to Gov. Weld through Harvard University, which employed Justice Marshall for many years as its corporate legal counsel and where Gov. Weld has remained an active, influential alumnus. Moreover, if you persuaded Gov. Weld to consume a few amber-colored liquid drinks one night, he probably would freely admit to you that the fact then Harvard corporate counsel Marshall was the wife of prominent New York Times Op-ed columnist, Anthony Lewis, also factored into his appointment-making process. One should recall that at the time of Justice Marshall’s appointment, 1996 and her elevation as Chief Justice in 1999, Gov. Weld possessed Senatorial and national presidential political ambitions that might have been advanced by favorable coverage in The New York Times.
In the case of Governor Patrick, one can confidently predict that he will appoint a decidedly non-controversial, centrist, and corporate-friendly lawyer or sitting judge to the SJC to replace the late Justice Sosman. Given the multitude of personal and political challenges and difficulties, the Governor is already encountering, he will avoid, at all costs, appointing an attorney or jugde with a long, public record supporting progressive causes such as the legal sanctioning of gay marriage or state prison reform. My guess is that Gov. Patrick will appoint a corporate legal pal with Republican party connections such as Wayne Budd or Mark Robinson. Alternatively, Gov. Patrick might select Ralph Martin, former Suffolk County DA, if he wants to insulate himself from criticism by the conservative law and order interest groups. If you are Harvey Silverglate or Willie Davis, two liberal legal titans in Massachusetts, I would refrain from fitting myself for SJC judicial robes.
Finally, the governor should use his plenary appointment power to ignore all recommendations offered by the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC). This quasi-executive body is simply an organization populated by elite, well-connected lawyers who will undoubtedly recycle the same right-wing, corporate, uninspiring lawyers for consideration that the Commission has suggested for the last 16 years. Gov. Patrick, “Together we can….” do better than the judicial recommendations offered by the high-class reactionary legal hacks of the JNC.
Where’s Welducci’s “long personal or professional relationship” with them? Where, for that matter, is Cellucci’s relationship with Marshall? Elevating her to Chief Justice was a big deal, yet AFAIK he (as opposed to Weld) had no particular relationship to her or Anthony Lewis, and nothing in particular to gain by elevating her.
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If you’re making the general point that being politically connected is relevant to being appointed to the bench, sure, that’s a no-brainer. Beyond that, methinks this post is substantially overstated.
Your comment about the “Welducci” (indicating the close collaboration between Gov. Weld and Gov. Cellucci on many policy, management, and appointment matters) judicial apppointments illustrates my point about the centrality of personal and professional connections in the gubernatorial appointment process to the SJC.
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Do you really believe that Gov Weld did NOT discuss, at length, with close political ally, Lieut Gov. Cellucci, the identity of the replacement of retiring Chief Justice Liacos before Weld resigned in July ’97? Bill Weld may not have shown much attention or concern about several areas of public policy during the “Welducci” years; however, the judicial appointment process, particularly the SJC, was one of those few legacy public policy areas that commanded his close personal attention and due consideration.
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Finally, I would have assumed that the revelations between the incestuous connections between politicans and the elite media revealed by the Libby trial would illustrate my point about how most all politicans seek to curry favor with the elite media (the New York Times and Anthony Lewis certainly qualify as “elite media”)to advance the political agenda and personal ambitions. After the multiple revelations of media manipulations revealed by the Libby trial, one should, at least, fully appreciate the extent to which all politicians, even ones as independent and gutsy as Weld, cultivate and (mis)use their personal relationships with media elites to advance their political agendas and personal ambitions.
I have to agree with David, I don’t think you demonstrate much of anything and you make some statements that are at best dubious.
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To begin with, there are other considerations Governors often employ. Justice Spina for instance was appointed to what has traditionally been the western Mass. seat on the SJC. I believe that Justice Quirico, also from Pittsfield, immediatel y preceded him. It is possible that Justice Sosman “represented” a similar geographic quota, but I doubt it.
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The possible appointments you mention undercut much of your argument, since they reveal a general lack of understanding about the appointment process and judicial system.
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There is no way Wayne Budd is getting an appointment. For starters he was one of Tom Reilly’s biggest backers. Even more important, he is, conservatively, 65 years old. His bio on Goodwin Procter’s website says he graduated from BC in 1963. I think it is reasonable to assume he was at least 21 at the time. Born in 1942, it is 2007 now. That would give him only five years on the bench given the mandatory retirement age of 70. Moreover, I think that if he wanted to be on the SJC he would be there by now. I imagine he is enjoying private practice.
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I don’t know much about Mark Robinson, but I’d say if you think someone with that kind of profile is a likely choice, Donald Stern would have been a better guess.
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Your comments about Ralph Martin are just generally off base. I don’t know how his appointment would insulate the Governor from criticism by “conservative law and order interest groups.” Sure, he was a DA who put a lot of people in jail, but he did so with community-based solutions, not the traditional lock-em-up and throw away the key mentality. Besides, he has a great practice at Bingham McCutchen and just became Chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. Oh, and he was one of Tom Reilly’s biggest supporters.
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Silverglate is just as old as Budd and is probably more useful to liberal causes as an attorney than as a judge.
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Also, it is pretty difficult to call the members of the JNC hacks and reactionaries when they have yet to be appointed. Your divining powers are impressive…
First, my point, which I should have articulated more clearly, about Ralph Martin was that he has impeccable “law and order” credentials since he was an extermely effective Suffolk County DA. Martin, if appointed, would be insulated from criticism by right-wing “law and order” conservatives because of his superb collaborative work with police, community groups, and victims rights organizations as Suffolk County DA in the 1990’s. He is also a nominal Republican which would illustrate bi-partisanship on Gov. Patric’s part. Ralph would be an excellent, high quality, welcome appointment of varied experience.You are correct about Wayne Budd. He is probably too old to be appointed as Chief Justice of the SJC.
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Donald Stern is just another run-of-the mill corporate lawyer with an undistinguished record as U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts. Stern would be a safe, if uninspiring, appointee to the Court who would favor corporate interests over union protections and enviornmental concerns, and he would be very reluctant to defend personal rights and civil liberties against government intrusions.
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I stand by my criticism of the historic role of the Judicial Nominating Commission as a body that weeds out progressive, anti-establishment legal types in favor of corporate lawyers and judicial insiders. I challenge anyone to point to anything in Gov. Patrick’s legal or political background or professional experience that would lead one to believe his appointments to the JNC or the SJC would deviate from the traditional practice of appointing uninspired, legal insider, and corporate-type members of both bodies.
As they sometimes say on the sons of sam horn: small sample size.
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There isn’t enough of a background on Patrick to make a prediction. IT will be interesting.
Before denigrating the qualifications of the Chief Justice, and before tagging her as liberal, EddieCoyle might do a little fact checking. Being General Counsel of Harvard is no small feat-it’s a job requiring the ability to manage a very complex and large organization with legal issues ranging from mundane landlord-tenant and contract problems to sophisticated patent, medical, and financial issues involving the law. Before her life as GC at Harvard, she was a partner in two large Boston law firms. Frankly, there aren’t a lot of judges at any level of our court system who have the range of legal experience she does.
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As for the attempt to tag Marshall as a liberal, it’s important to note that she’s written a lot more opinions than Goodridge. Unfortunately, like Justice Sosman, lots of people will forget everything else she’s done and view her legacy only through the Goodridge opinion. You may wish to remember that she also wrote the opinion for the court in Connors v. Boston in 1999, invalidating Boston’s extension of health benefits to domestic partners of city employees. Her opinion at the time cancelled health insurance for same-sex partners in several cities in the Commonwealth. I disliked that opinion just as much as I liked her opinion in Goodridge. It just makes it hard to pigeonhole her as conservative or liberal. She’s looking at the Massachusetts Constitution as she sees it, with considerable rigor and considerable intellect.
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As for who the next Justice should be, there are certainly lots of interesting candidates. If EddieCoyle checked his facts about the Judicial Nominating Commission, he might also know that Governor Patrick has named Lisa Goodheart, an environmental attorney, as the Chair, and Elizabeth Morse, the former Chair of the Worcester County Bar Association, and John Griffin, Deputy General Counsel at Tyco, as Vice Chairs. One of his first executive orders as Governor revamped the Commission to open the process for judicial nominations. The process is not the same as it used to be under Governor Brylcreem. Go Read Executive Order 477[http://www.mass.gov/…]if you don’t believe me.
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I find it hard to be quite as cynical about the whole process as EddieCoyle.
Being General Counsel at Harvard University might sound like an intellectually demanding job to the layperson, but it is actually a top managerial position with very little responsibility for developing legal strategy, writing legal briefs, settling cases, or litigating in court.
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A university General Counsel mostly makes day-to-day managerial decisions about the assignment of cases to deputy and assistant counsels, signs-off on legal settlements by her deputies and assistants, helps hire legal and administrative personnel, represents the University at seminars and conferences across the United States, and asks the president of the university for more resources to defend the university against the plethora of lawsuits it faces on an annual basis. Justice Marshall may be an outstanding liberal intellectual of international standing and a fine manager of the SJC’s business, but she lacked significant experience or a thorough education in Massachusetts civil, administrative, or criminal law prior to appointment to the SJC.
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Does the SJC really need another “ivory-tower” Harvard intellectual or another corporate lawyer on its bench who has little, if any, real-world legal or professional experience? Gov. Patrick should consider appointing a person to the SJC who has been a trial lawyer or prosecutor, has devoted some time to community service affairs outside of the courtroom, and does not display the type of judicial snobbery, fealty to corporate power, and personal arrogance we find in too many of our state judges today including those on the SJC.
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BTW, Massachusetts could use some of the Cabinet and agency brain power, diligence, creativity, and visibility that Gov. Weld brought to Massachusetts. I challenge anyone to name 3 members of Gov. Patrick’s cabinet without searching on the Web.
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…Harvey Silverglate might just consider it better to remain where he is–a private attorney–where he can defend speech issues primarily at the federal level, than as a justice of the SJC.
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Mr. Silverglate and I engaged in an email interchange a few years ago regarding a rather obscure issue. He’s probably better situated as an advocate than as a state judge–but I wouldn’t object to him being nominated.
Hey, eddie, how’s that ting up in new haampsha goin?