Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Raheem L. Mullins
2025 - Present
2033
0
Raheem L. Mullins is a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice. He assumed office on January 28, 2025. His current term ends on January 28, 2033.
On January 28, 2025, Mullins was confirmed by the Connecticut General Assembly for an additional eight-year term on the Connecticut Supreme Court, this time serving as chief justice following the departure of Richard A. Robinson (nonpartisan).[1] To learn more about this appointment, click here.
Mullins became a member of the court by appointment. He was appointed in 2017 by Democratic Governor Dan Malloy to succeed Dennis G. Eveleigh, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.[2] To read more about judicial selection in Connecticut, click here. He was appointed as interim chief justice on September 28, 2024.[3]
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[4] Mullins received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[5] Click here to read more about this study.
Before his appointment to the Connecticut Supreme Court, Mullins was a judge on the Connecticut Appellate Court. Malloy nominated him on March 14, 2014, and the Connecticut General Assembly confirmed him on April 25, 2014.[6] Mullins filled the vacancy created by Stuart David Bear's retirement.[7][8] Mullins previously served as a judge on the superior court.[9]
Biography
Mullins received a B.A. in sociology from Clark University in 2001. He received a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 2004.[10]
Mullins clerked for Judge Frederick L. Brown of the Massachusetts Appeals Court after law school. Before becoming a judge, Mullins was an assistant state's attorney for the Division of Criminal Justice and assistant attorney general in the Child Protection Division. He then served as a judge in the New Haven District Superior Court from 2012 to 2014 and in the state appellate court from 2014 to 2017, until his appointment to the state supreme court.[10][11] As of 2021, Mullins had chaired the Code of Evidence Oversight Committee since 2018.[10]
Appointments
2024
- See also: Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Robinson vacancy (September 2024)
- See also: Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Mullins vacancy (September 2024)
On August 29, 2024, Governor Ned Lamont (D) appointed Raheem L. Mullins to the chief justice position of the Connecticut Supreme Court. Mullins replaced Chief Justice Richard Robinson, who retired on September 6, 2024.[12] Mullins is Governor Lamont's (D) fourth appointment to the seven-member supreme court.
In Connecticut, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a governor-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the governor. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends qualified candidates to the governor and the governor selects a successor from that list with legislative approval. The new appointee serves an eight-year term.[13]
2017
Gov. Malloy nominated Mullins to the state supreme court on October 4, 2017, and he was sworn in on November 1, 2017.[10]
2014
Gov. Malloy nominated Mullins to the Connecticut Appellate Court on March 14, 2014, and the Connecticut General Assembly confirmed him on April 25, 2014.[6]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[14]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[15]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Raheem
Mullins
Connecticut
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
- State was a Democratic trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Mullins was appointed by Gov. Dan Malloy (D) in 2017. At the time of his appointment, Connecticut was a Democratic trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Connecticut
- See also: Judicial selection in Connecticut
The seven justices on the Connecticut Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. The Connecticut Judicial Selection Commission is responsible for screening candidates and submitting a shortlist to the governor. The commission is made up of 12 members: six appointed by the governor and six appointed by leaders in the state legislature. The governor must appoint a justice from the commission's shortlist and the appointee must then be confirmed by a majority vote of the Connecticut General Assembly.[16][17]
Justices serve for eight years after their appointment. To continue to serve on the court, they must be renominated by the governor and reapproved by the General Assembly.[17]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a state resident;
- licensed to practice law in the state; and
- under the age of 70 (retirement at 70 is mandatory).[18]
Chief justice
The chief justice is appointed by the governor and confirmed by a majority vote of the Connecticut General Assembly. In the event of a vacancy, however, the governor may nominate an associate justice to serve as chief without involving the judicial nominating commission. Chief justices appointed this way will serve out the remainder of their predecessor's term rather than a full eight years, which is the typical term length of the chief justice.[16]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends qualified candidates to the governor and the governor selects a successor from that list with legislative approval. The new appointee serves an eight-year term.[19]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ ctmirror, “Raheem Mullin confirmed as chief justice of CT Supreme Court" accessed January 31, 2025
- ↑ Hartford Courant, "Malloy Appoints Two To State Supreme Court," October 4, 2017
- ↑ CT Mirror, "CT legislature OKs Raheem Mullins as Supreme Court chief justice," September 30, 2024
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The CT Mirror, "New judges endorsed despite outcry over judicial pensions," April 25, 2014
- ↑ Dannel P. Malloy, Governor of Connecticut, "Gov. Malloy nominates judges Eliot Prescott and Raheem L. Mullins to appellate court, names 16 others to superior court," March 14, 2014
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Connecticut," accessed March 18, 2014
- ↑ Connecticut General Assembly, "Senate Resolution Confirming the Nomination of Raheem L. Mullins, Esquire, of Salem to be Judge of the Superior Court," February 2012
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Biographies of Supreme Court Justices, Associate Justice Raheem L. Mullins," accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ Vote Smart, "Raheem Mullins' Biography," accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ CT Mirror, "Richard Robinson to retire as chief justice of CT Supreme Court," May 21, 2024
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Connecticut General Assembly, "Sec. 51-44a. Judicial Selection Commission. Members. Duties. Nomination of judges by Governor.," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Connecticut General Assembly, "Article Fifth. of the Judicial Department - Sec. 2.," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Frequently Asked Media Questions," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
Federal courts:
Second Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Connecticut • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Connecticut
State courts:
Connecticut Supreme Court • Connecticut Appellate Court • Connecticut Superior Court • Connecticut Probate Courts
State resources:
Courts in Connecticut • Connecticut judicial elections • Judicial selection in Connecticut
