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Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justice vacancy (December 2020)
| Massachusetts Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Lenk vacancy |
| Date: December 1, 2020 |
| Status: Seat filled |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: Dalila Wendlandt |
| Date: November 3, 2020 |
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R) appointed Dalila Wendlandt to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on November 3, 2020. Wendlandt succeeded Barbara Lenk, who retired on December 1, 2020.[1][2][3] Wendlandt was Gov. Baker's sixth nominee to the seven-member court.
At the time of the appointment under Massachusetts law, each justice was appointed by the governor and approved by the Massachusetts Governor's Council. Justices on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court would hold tenured appointments until they reach 70 years old, the age of mandatory retirement.[4][5][6]
The appointee
- See also: Dalila Wendlandt
On November 3, 2020, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) announced the nomination of Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge Dalila Wendlandt to replace Lenk as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.[7]
Wendlandt joined the Massachusetts Appeals Court in 2017. She was nominated to the court by Gov. Baker and confirmed by the Governor's Council. From 1997 to 2017, Wendlandt was an attorney with Ropes & Gray LLP. Wendlandt previously served as a law clerk to the Hon. John M. Walker, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.[8] For more on Wendlandt's career, click here.
Wendlandt earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1991. She earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1993. She earned a J.D. from Stanford University Law School in 1996. During her legal studies, Wendlandt was an article editor of the Stanford Law Review.[8]
The selection process
- See also: Judicial selection in Massachusetts
At the time of the appointment, the seven justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court were appointed by the governor and approved by the governor's council. Justices would hold tenured appointments until they reach 70 years old, the age of mandatory retirement.[4][5][6]
Media coverage
This section includes excerpts from articles about the appointment process and the two vacancies on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
- Stephanie Barry, MassLive (September 21, 2020): "The Western Massachusetts governor’s councilor has coined a phrase to urge regional parity on the Supreme Judicial Court, and Gov. Charlie Baker has something in common with John Hancock.
- “413 on the SJC,” quipped Mary Hurley, a retired district court judge and member of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council, which confirms judicial nominations across the commonwealth.
- Hurley joins a chorus of local attorneys and retired judges who have become weary of the Greater Boston-centric composition of the state’s highest court. They urge Baker to consider candidates from the western part of the state in the face of two openings on the seven-member court: a retiring associate justice plus late Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants, who died Sept. 14 after undergoing surgery.
- Hurley noted that of 10 applicants vying to replace retiring Associate Justice Barbara A. Lenk, not one was from western Massachusetts. ...
- Retired Supreme Judicial Court Justice John Greaney, of Westfield, served on the high court for 20 years. He echoed the need for representation from this region. Greaney also noted that Baker will be the first since Hancock to appoint every single member of the court.
- “Baker has the opportunity to be the first governor after John Hancock to appoint all seven … after Hancock appointed then five in 1781,” Greaney said. ...
- Greaney says it is also useful for regional members of the SJC to act as civic ambassadors on behalf of the court.
- “A lot of people don’t even know what the SJC does,” he said.
- Local attorney David P. Hoose, president of Hampden County Lawyers for Justice, said practicing lawyers from this region have also tired of the lopsided geographic composition of the court’s justices.
- “We live in the state of Massachusetts, not the state of Boston. Frankly, it’s insulting to assume that people who choose to live and practice in this part of the state are not of the quality to serve on the Supreme Judicial Court,” Hoose said.[9]
Makeup of the court
- See also: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Following Lenk's retirement, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court included the following members:
| ■ Frank M. Gaziano | Appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker (R) in 2016 | |
| ■ David A. Lowy | Appointed by Gov. Baker (R) in 2016 | |
| ■ Kimberly S. Budd | Appointed by Gov. Baker (R) in 2016 | |
| ■ Elspeth Cypher | Appointed by Gov. Baker (R) in 2017 | |
| ■ Scott Kafker | Appointed by Gov. Baker (R) in 2017 |
About Justice Lenk
- See also: Barbara Lenk
Justice Lenk earned a bachelor's degree from Fordham University in 1972 and a Ph.D. in political philosophy from Yale University in 1978. She earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979.[2]
Lenk's career experience includes working as an attorney with Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer from 1979 to 1993. She served as a judge with the Massachusetts Superior Courts from 1993 to 1995, and with the Massachusetts Appeals Court from 1995 to 2011. Lenk served as a justice with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 2011 to 2020.[2]
Other state supreme court appointments in 2020
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2020
The following table lists vacancies to state supreme courts that opened in 2020. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2021.
See also
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Massachusetts Court System, "Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts"
Footnotes
- ↑ WWLP, "Lenk delays retirement, keeps SJC at full strength," August 13, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Massachusetts Court System, "Associate Justice Barbara A. Lenk," accessed October 27, 2017
- ↑ The Daily Free Press, "Gov. Patrick's fourth appointment to SJC confirmed," May 5, 2011
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Massachusetts Court System, "About the Supreme Judicial Court," accessed January 29, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 American Bar Association, "Fact sheet on judicial selection methods in the states," accessed August 25, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Massachusetts," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ The Boston Globe, "Gov. Baker nominates Judge Dalila Argaez Wendlandt to SJC. She would be the first Latina on the high court," November 3, 2020
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mass.gov, "Associate Justice Dalila Wendlandt," accessed October 8, 2018
- ↑ MassLive, "Retired SJC judge, governor’s councilor urge regional parity on state’s highest court," September 21, 2020
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Federal courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Massachusetts • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Massachusetts
State courts:
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court • Massachusetts Appeals Court • Massachusetts Superior Courts • Massachusetts District Courts • Massachusetts Housing Courts • Massachusetts Juvenile Courts • Massachusetts Land Courts • Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts • Boston Municipal Courts, Massachusetts
State resources:
Courts in Massachusetts • Massachusetts judicial elections • Judicial selection in Massachusetts
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