McDonald gets 8 more years as state justice
HARTFORD — Despite controversy and charges that he is an activist judge, Connecticut Supreme Court justice Andrew J. McDonald was approved Friday by the state Senate for another eight years on the state’s highest court.
McDonald received final legislative approval on a bipartisan basis by a 26-6 margin with the negative votes coming from Republicans. McDonald was blocked from becoming the chief justice in 2018 in a bitter battle with Republicans, but he was renominated by Gov. Ned Lamont for another term as an associate justice.
In a debate that lasted just six minutes, McDonald received plaudits from his former Senate colleagues whom he had served with for eight years while co-chair of the legislature’s judiciary committee. Unlike recent debates in the state House of Representatives and the judiciary committee, there were no negative statements made about McDonald on the Senate floor.
Republican Sens. Eric Berthel of Watertown, Kevin Witkos of Canton, Craig Miner of Litchfield, Henri Martin of
Bristol, Heather Somers of Groton and Dan Champagne of Vernon voted against McDonald.
Some Republicans view McDonald as a deeply partisan, liberal Democrat and judicial activist who inserts his personal opinions into his judicial rulings, including voting in 2015 to eliminate the death penalty. They say that he should have recused himself from the death penalty and other controversial cases.
But Democrats rejected that notion, saying McDonald is a brilliant, Ivy League-educated jurist with a unique lifetime of experience in important positions in the legislature, the executive branch and on the state’s highest court.
“Andrew McDonald has had a superb career in all three branches of government,” said Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, a New Haven Democrat. “He is one of the true shining lights of our judiciary in Connecticut.’’
Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk agreed.
“He’s proven over the last eight years that his brilliant legal mind has really made a mark in the state Supreme Court,” Duff said. “He takes public service very seriously. ... I could not think of a better person to sit on the Supreme Court to represent the people of the state of Connecticut than Andrew J. McDonald.’’
A graduate of Cornell University and the UConn School of Law, McDonald had been approved previously by a 32-5 vote in the judiciary committee and in the House on Thursday by a 104-37 vote with 10 lawmakers absent.
McDonald was renominated for another term by Lamont more than two years after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had nominated McDonald for the position of chief justice, overseeing the state’s highest court. The Senate was tied 18-18 between Democrats and Republicans at the time in 2018, and McDonald was defeated, 19-16, as Democratic Sen. Joan Hartley joined with 18 Republicans to block the nomination.
Sen. John Kissel, the ranking Senate Republican on the judiciary committee, said his friend had endured a rough time when he was trying to become the chief justice.
“He did go through a difficult period’‘’ Kissel said. “That did not work out for him. But since that time, he has continued to write many, many decisions. I just think that as much as he might still be somewhat controversial in some respects, I think once you serve a term, it’s really hard to go back to the private sector. So I think Justice McDonald should get renominated, so I’m supporting him today.”
Friday’s Senate session had originally been expected to be held next week. But lawmakers said they did not want to be at the state Capitol on the same day that Democrat Joe Biden is inaugurated as president. Police have been preparing for potential violence on Inauguration Day after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a rampage that led to five deaths.
Officials have also advised legislators to stay away from the Capitol in Hartford on Sunday due to planned demonstrations as some supporters of President Donald Trump still believe that he won the election over Biden in November.
McDonald left his position as Malloy’s chief counsel in order to join the bench. Now, after a series of retirements, McDonald is the longest-serving justice on the current court and has written numerous decisions during his tenure.
Malloy, a close friend and political ally of McDonald’s for more than 25 years, charged in 2018 that part of the reason that Republicans opposed McDonald was because he is gay. But Republicans repeatedly and heatedly denied that allegation, saying they never mentioned McDonald’s sexuality during the time that his nomination became highly controversial.