Dreaming of Maura Healey being appointed to SJC
If Gov. Charlie Baker really wants to shake things up, he’d appoint Attorney General Maura Healey to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
He could even name her chief justice.
Not that Healey is interested, but it is certainly something worthy of consideration. Healey is currently in her second four-year term as the states’ chief law officer.
The appointment would make Healey the first attorney general to be named to the high court in modern Massachusetts history.
Healey, 49, a progressive Democrat, is as qualified as anyone else who has applied for the job.
She is a Harvard graduate with a law degree from the Northeastern University School of Law. She practiced law before becoming an assistant district attorney in Middlesex County.
She joined the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley in 2007, resigning in 2013 to run for attorney general. She was elected in 2014, becoming the first openly gay attorney general elected in Massachusetts as well as the first in the nation. She was re-elected in 2018.
If appointed to the judiciary, she would be the first openly gay member of the seven-member high court, let alone the first gay chief justice.
Were she to become a member of the high court she would not have to worry about running again for office, and doing all that it entails, but could serve on the court for 20 years.
There is ongoing speculation that Healey would like to run for governor, so a potential judicial appointment would eliminate Healey as a potential Baker opponent if Baker, a popular RINO Republican, seeks a third term in 2022, which he just might do. Then he could run for president in 2024.
While Healey has become famous as the state’s first openly gay attorney general, her elevation to the high court would add even more luster to her career, especially among progressives and the gay community.
In addition, her countless lawsuits against President Donald Trump, individually as well in class actions suits in conjunction with other Democrat attorneys general, have made her known nationally as well.
Healey’s criticism of Trump is like the way Baker feels about the president. While they may disagree on other matters both the governor and the attorney general would like to see Trump defeated in November.
The SJC vacancy occurred following the untimely death of Chief Justice Ralph Gants, 65. His recent death has given Baker the opportunity to appoint a replacement.
In addition, Baker, who has already appointed five of the high court’s seven justices, now has the opportunity to appoint two more.
One appointment would fill Gants’ seat while the other would replace Justice Barbara Lenk, who plans to retire upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Talk about packing the court.
Baker had a solid working relationship with Gants, especially during the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The pair had been in talks about how to handle the pandemic-related moratorium on home evictions and foreclosures. The temporary ban on both expires Oct. 17, unless Baker extends it, as he has once before.
“Honestly, our conversations had been going on with Chief Justice Gants around the issue, and his passing is a tragedy,” Baker told State House News Service.
He said he wanted to make sure that, working with the courts, people are protected with their housing during the pandemic. “But the longer this goes on,” he said, “the deeper the hole gets, not just for tenants, but also for landlords, especially small landlords who have in many cases already run out of rope.”
Were the appointment — farfetched as it seems — to take place, the Legislature, if it is in session, would elect a replacement to finish out Healey’s current term. If it is not in session, then Baker would name a replacement.
However, the Democrat-controlled Legislature, made up of 160 representatives and 40 senators, is seemingly always in session. And since there are more representatives than senators, the key player in the process is the speaker of the House who controls most of the votes.
The last time such a situation occurred was in 1969 when Republican Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigned to join the Nixon administration.
The Legislature then elected House Speaker Robert H. Quinn, a lawyer, to the post.
The current speaker is Robert DeLeo, 71, also a lawyer. While DeLeo would pass on it, he would have a major say on who it would be.