Rhode Island Supreme Court

Rhode Island Supreme Court
Court Information
Justices: 5
Founded: 1747
Location: Providence
Salary
Associates: $249,661
Judicial Selection
Method: Assisted appointment (governor-controlled commission)
Term: Life terms; no mandated retirement
Active justices
Melissa Long, Maureen McKenna Goldberg, Erin Lynch Prata, William P. Robinson, Paul Suttell

Founded in 1747, the Rhode Island Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has five judgeships. The current chief of the court is Paul Suttell.

As of August 2021, three judges on the court were appointed by a Republican governor and two were appointed by a Democratic governor.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court meets on the seventh floor of the Licht Judicial Complex in Providence, Rhode Island. The court hears oral arguments the first week of every month besides the summer months.

In Rhode Island, 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.

Jurisdiction

The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort. It holds appellate jurisdiction over legal and constitutional questions. Supreme court justices may provide advisory opinions at the request of the governor or the state legislature. The supreme court has supervisory powers over all lower courts in the state and over the judiciary's budget. The court also regulates admission into the bar and it regulates discipline of its attorneys and judges.

The following text from Article X, Section 2 of the Rhode Island Constitution covers the organization and jurisdiction of the court:

“	Jurisdiction of Supreme and Inferior Courts -- Quorum of Supreme Court The supreme court shall have final revisory and appellate jurisdiction upon all questions of law and equity. It shall have power to issue prerogative writs, and shall also have such other jurisdiction as may, from time to time, by prescribed by law. A majority of its judges shall always be necessary to constitute a quorum. The inferior courts shall have such jurisdiction as may, from time to time, be prescribed by law.	”
—Rhode Island Constitution, Article X, Section 2

Justices

The court consists of four justices and one chief justice. Rhode Island Supreme Court justices hold office for life. The table below lists the current justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, their political party, when they assumed office, and the appointing governor.

Office	Name	Party	Date assumed office	Appointed by
Rhode Island Supreme Court	Melissa Long	Nonpartisan	January 11, 2021	Gina Raimondo (D)
Rhode Island Supreme Court	Maureen McKenna Goldberg	Nonpartisan	1997	Lincoln Almond (R)
Rhode Island Supreme Court	Erin Lynch Prata	Nonpartisan	January 4, 2021	Gina Raimondo (D)
Rhode Island Supreme Court	William P. Robinson	Nonpartisan	2004	Donald Carcieri (R)
Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice	Paul Suttell	Nonpartisan	July 16, 2009	Donald Carcieri (R)

Chief justice

Paul Suttell is the chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. He was nominated to this position by Governor Donald Carcieri, confirmed by the Rhode Island General Assembly, and sworn in on July 16, 2009.

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Rhode Island

The five justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court are appointed by the governor with help from a nominating commission made up of nine members. Supreme court nominees must then be approved by a majority vote of both the state House and the state Senate. Justices serve for life or until they retire.

Qualifications

To serve on the Rhode Island Supreme Court, a judge must be:

• an attorney;
• licensed to practice law in the state; and
• a member of the state bar in good standing.

Chief justice

The chief justice is chosen the same way as other justices are when appointed to the court. Like other judges, the chief justice serves in that capacity for life.

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

Because Rhode Island judges serve for life or until they retire, the concept of a midterm vacancy has little relevance to the state's selection process. When a judge retires or passes away in office, the governor picks a nominee from a list from the judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by a majority vote in both chambers of the state legislature.

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.

Appointments

2020

Justice Flaherty vacancy

See also: Rhode Island Supreme Court justice vacancy (December 2020)

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (D) nominated Melissa Long to the Rhode Island Supreme Court on December 8, 2020. Long succeeded Justice Francis Flaherty, who retired on December 31, 2020. She was Gov. Raimondo's second nominee to the five-member supreme court.

At the time of the appointment, supreme court justices were selected by the governor with help from a nominating commission and approval from the legislature.

Justice Indeglia vacancy

See also: Rhode Island Supreme Court justice vacancy (June 2020)

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (D) nominated Erin Lynch Prata to the Rhode Island Supreme Court on December 8, 2020. The Rhode Island General Assembly confirmed the nomination after votes from the state House on December 16 and the state Senate on December 19, 2020. Lynch Prata succeeded Justice Gilbert Indeglia, who retired on June 30, 2020. She was Gov. Raimondo's first nominee to the five-member supreme court.

At the time of the appointment, supreme court justices were selected by the governor with help from a nominating commission and approval from the legislature.

Media coverage of the appointment process primarily focused on interpretations of Rhode Island's law prohibiting legislators from applying for a state job for one year after serving in the General Assembly. The law came into question after Lynch Prata, a Democratic state senator representing District 31, announced she would not seek re-election and applied for the open supreme court seat.

Coverage also focused on diversity. State Sen. Harold Metts (D) and state Rep. Joseph Almeida (D) both called for a person from a minority group to be named on the court. On Twitter, Gov. Raimondo announced that the nomination of Erin Lynch Prata and Melissa Long to the Rhode Island Supreme Court could result in the court being "majority-female for the first time." The governor also wrote that Long was the "first person of color nominated to serve" on the state supreme court.

Caseloads

The table below details the number of cases filed with the court and the number of dispositions (decisions) the court reached in each year.

Rhode Island Supreme Court caseload data
Year	Filings	Dispositions
2023	374	380
2022	359	376
2021	343	339
2020	286	313
2019	490	481
2018	360	399
2017	433	442
2016	358	352
2015	376	411
2014	340	374
2013	359	393
2012	355	373
2011	375	381
2010	418	334
2009	336	339
2008	323	319
2007	358	353

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters (2021)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters, a study on how state supreme court justices decided the cases that came before them. Our goal was to determine which justices ruled together most often, which frequently dissented, and which courts featured the most unanimous or contentious decisions.

The study tracked the position taken by each state supreme court justice in every case they decided in 2020, then tallied the number of times the justices on the court ruled together. We identified the following types of justices:

• We considered two justices opinion partners if they frequently concurred or dissented together throughout the year.
• We considered justices a dissenting minority if they frequently opposed decisions together as a -1 minority.
• We considered a group of justices a determining majority if they frequently determined cases by a +1 majority throughout the year.
• We considered a justice a lone dissenter if he or she frequently dissented alone in cases throughout the year.

Summary of cases decided in 2020

• Number of justices: 5
• Number of cases: 62
• Percentage of cases with a unanimous ruling: 91.9% (57)
• Justice most often writing the majority opinion: Justice Flaherty (15)
• Per curiam decisions: 1
• Concurring opinions: 1
• Justice with most concurring opinions: Justice Robinson (1)
• Dissenting opinions: 5
• Justice with most dissenting opinions: Justices Flaherty and Robinson (2)

For the study's full set of findings in Rhode Island, click here.

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship

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, based on a variety of factors. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on the political or ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. To arrive at confidence scores we analyzed each justice's past partisan activity by collecting data on campaign finance, past political positions, party registration history, as well as other factors. The five categories of Confidence Scores were:

• Strong Democrat
• Mild Democrat
• Indeterminate
• Mild Republican
• Strong Republican

We used the Confidence Scores of each justice to develop a Court Balance Score, which attempted to show the balance among justices with Democratic, Republican, and Indeterminate Confidence Scores on a court. Courts with higher positive Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Republican Confidence Scores, while courts with lower negative Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Democratic Confidence Scores. Courts closest to zero either had justices with conflicting partisanship or justices with Indeterminate Confidence Scores.

Rhode Island had a Court Balance Score of 2.40, indicating Republican control of the court. In total, the study found that there were 15 states with Democrat-controlled courts, 27 states with Republican-controlled courts, and eight states with Split courts. The map below shows the court balance score of each state.

Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)

See also: Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores of state supreme court justices, 2012

In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan outlook of state supreme court justices in their paper, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns." A score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology while scores below 0 were more liberal. The state Supreme Court of Rhode Island was given a campaign finance score (CFscore), which was calculated for judges in October 2012. At that time, Rhode Island received a score of -0.50. Based on the justices selected, Rhode Island was the 8th most liberal court. The study was based on data from campaign contributions by judges themselves, the partisan leaning of contributors to the judges, or—in the absence of elections—the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice but rather an academic gauge of various factors.

History of the court

In 1663, the area of Rhode Island was organized under a royal charter with a governor, deputy governor, and ten assistants, elected to be the general assembly and judges of the general court of trials. This court became known as the superior court of judicature, court of assize, and general gaol delivery. The general assembly divided Rhode Island into three counties (Newport, Providence, and Kings) in 1729 and it created county courts to hear civil and criminal matters, which could be appealed to the superior court. Most judges serving in the 18th century were laymen and did not possess formal legal training, therefore the court did not explicitly follow British Common Law. Parties, however, could appeal decisions to the British monarch, English courts, or general assembly. In 1747 the general assembly selected a chief justice and four associate justices to hold superior court twice per year in each county and it provided that justices would serve one-year terms.

Rhode Island became a state in 1776. In 1790 the state prohibited political office holders from serving as judges. In 1798 the name of the superior court of judicature, court of assize, and general gaol delivery was changed to the supreme judicial court.

The 1842 state constitution gave final adjudicative power to the courts instead of to the general assembly. It also divided the government into three branches, providing the judiciary a co-equal status with the general assembly and the executive branch for the first time. The constitution shortened the name of the supreme judicial court to the supreme court. The court was made up of six justices, later increased to seven. Justices were elected to their offices by nomination of a joint committee of the state general assembly, followed by a majority vote in both houses. The courts had chancery jurisdiction as well as appellate jurisdiction.

The legislature's 1905 Court and Practice Act created the superior court as a general trial jurisdiction court and it recast the supreme court as an appellate court, which it remains today. The Act provided for five supreme court justices. This number has not changed since.

In 1994, voters passed a State judiciary on the ballot constitutional amendment to the 1986 Rhode Island Constitution, authorizing the governor to choose supreme court nominees from a list of candidates approved by a nonpartisan nominating committee. Both houses of the legislature still must approve the nominee. Justices continue to have lifetime tenure.

Prominent justices

• Peleg Arnold, Delegate to the Continental Congress
• Stephen Hopkins, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of Rhode Island
• David Howell (jurist), Delegate to the Continental Congress, federalist leader, U.S. District Judge
• William West, 1787-1789, American Revolution general, Deputy Governor, anti-federalist rebellion leader

Courts in Rhode Island

See also: Courts in Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, there is one federal district court, a state supreme court, and trial courts. These courts serve different purposes, which are outlined in the sections below.

Click a link for information about that court type.

• Federal courts
• State supreme court
• Trial courts

The image below depicts the flow of cases through Rhode Island's state court system. Cases typically originate in the trial courts and can be appealed to courts higher up in the system.

The structure of Rhode Island's state court system.

Party control of Rhode Island state government

A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government. A state supreme court plays a role in the checks and balances system of a state government.

Rhode Island has a Democratic trifecta. The Democratic Party controls the office of governor and both chambers of the state legislature.

See also

Rhode Island	Judicial Selection	More Courts
Courts in Rhode Island Rhode Island Supreme Court	Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Rhode Island	Federal courts State courts Local courts

External links

• Rhode Island Supreme Court Official Site
• Rhode Island Judicial Nominating Commission

Footnotes

Rhode Island courts

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Federal courts:

First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Rhode Island • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Rhode Island

State courts:

Rhode Island Supreme Court • Rhode Island Superior Court • Rhode Island District Court • Rhode Island Family Court • Rhode Island Workers' Compensation Court • Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal

State resources:

Courts in Rhode Island • Rhode Island judicial elections • Judicial selection in Rhode Island