Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

John Adams Courthouse, home to the SJC

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>The Virginia Supreme Court was founded as a appellate Court in 1623; it became a Supreme Court in 1779; The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was founded as a Provincial Court in 1684; it became a Supreme Court in 1722;the New York Supreme Court was established as the Supreme Court of Judicature by the Province of New York on May 6, 1691. It became the New York Supreme Court under the New York Constitutional Convention of 1846.</ref> the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Americas,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with a recognized history dating to the establishment of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature in 1692 under the charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.<ref name=Eichholz>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Refn

Although it was historically composed of four associate justices and one chief justice, the court is currently composed of six associate justices and one chief justice. Like the State of Maine, Massachusetts prefixes the name of its highest court with 'Judicial' to avoid confusion with the Massachusetts General Court, the state's legislature.

History

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court traces its history back to the high court of the British Province of Massachusetts Bay, which was chartered in 1692. Under the terms of that charter, Governor Sir William Phips established the Superior Court of Judicature as the province's local court of last resort (some of the court's decisions could be appealed to courts in England). When the Massachusetts State Constitution was established in 1780, legislative and judicial records show that the state's high court, although renamed, was a continuation of provincial high court. During and after the period of the American Revolution the court had members who were appointed by royal governors, the executive council of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress (which acted as the state's executive from 1775 to 1780), and governors elected under the state constitution.

Location and citation

The SJC sits at the John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02108, which also houses the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Social Law Library.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The legal citation for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is "Mass."

Landmark cases

• Rex v. Preston (1770) – Captain Thomas Preston, the Officer of the Day during the Boston Massacre, was acquitted when the jury was unable to determine whether he had ordered the troops to fire. The defense counsel in the case was a young attorney named John Adams, later the second President of the United States.<ref>Zobel, Hiller (1970). Boston Massacre, pp. 243–265</ref>
• Rex v. Wemms, et al. (1770) – Six soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre were found not guilty, and two moreTemplate:Spaced ndashthe only two proven to have firedTemplate:Spaced ndashwere found guilty of manslaughter.<ref>Zobel, pp. 269–286</ref>
• Commonwealth v. Nathaniel Jennison (1783) – The Court declared slavery unconstitutional in the state of Massachusetts by allowing slaves to sue their masters for freedom. Boston lawyer, and member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779, John Lowell, upon the adoption of Article I for inclusion in the Massachusetts Constitution, exclaimed: "I will render my services as a lawyer gratis to any slave suing for his freedom if it is withheld from him ..."<ref>Lowell, Delmar R., The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899 (p 35); Rutland VT, The Tuttle Company, 1899; Template:ISBN.</ref> With this case, he fulfilled his promise. Slavery in Massachusetts was denied legal standing.
• Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) – The Court established that trade unions were not necessarily criminal or conspiring organizations if they did not advocate violence or illegal activities in their attempts to gain recognition through striking. This legalized the existence of non-socialist or non-violent trade organizations, though trade unions would continue to be harassed legally through anti-trust suits and injunctions.
• Roberts v. Boston (1850) – The Court established the "separate but equal" doctrine that would later be used in Plessy v. Ferguson by maintaining that the law gave school boards complete authority in assigning students to schools and that they could do so along racial lines if they deemed it appropriate.
• Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003) – The Court ruled 4–3 that the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples violated the Massachusetts Constitution. The decision was stayed for 180 days to allow the legislature time to amend the law to comply with the decision. In December 2003, the state Senate asked the SJC whether "civil unions" would comply with their ruling. The SJC replied that civil unions were insufficient, and civil marriage was required. The legislature made no further action, and the stay expired on May 17, 2004. The state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples the same day. This decision was one of the first in the world to find that same-sex couples have a right to marry.

Composition

The Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts with the consent of the Governor's Council.

The Justices hold office until the mandatory retirement age of seventy, like all other Massachusetts judges since 1972.

Current composition

Name	Born	Start	Mandatory Retirement	Appointer	Law School
Template:Sortname, Chief Justice	Template:Birth date and age	Template:DtsTemplate:Efn	2036	Template:Party shading/Republican |Charlie Baker (R)	Harvard
Template:Sortname	Template:Birth date and age	Template:Dts	2034	Template:Party shading/Republican |Charlie Baker (R)	Suffolk
Template:Sortname	Template:Birth date and age	Template:Dts	2029	Template:Party shading/Republican |Charlie Baker (R)	Chicago
Template:Sortname	Template:Birth year and age	Template:Dts	2039	Template:Party shading/Republican |Charlie Baker (R)	Stanford
Template:Sortname	Template:Birth year and age	Template:Dts	2040	Template:Party shading/Republican |Charlie Baker (R)	Suffolk
Template:Sortname	Template:Birth date and age	Template:Dts	2050	Template:Party shading/Democratic |Maura Healey (D)	Yale
Template:Sortname	Template:Birth date and age	Template:Dts	2030	Template:Party shading/Democratic |Maura Healey (D)	Columbia

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Notable members

• William Cushing, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1790–1810)
• Charles Devens, United States Attorney General (1877–81)
• Charles Fried, United States Solicitor General (1985–89)
• Horace Gray, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1882–1902)
• Ebenezer R. Hoar, United States Attorney General (1869–70)
• Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1902–32)
• Lemuel Shaw, Chief Justice, father-in-law of Herman Melville
• Theophilus Parsons, Federalist leader, Constitutional scholar

Works cited

• Davis, William (1900). History of the Judiciary of Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Civil List for the Colonial and Provincial Periods
• Reno, Conrad. Memoirs of the Judiciary and the Bar of New England, Volume 1

External links

• Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
• List of Chief Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court (since 1801)
• Office of the Reporter of Decisions of the SJC
• Template:Citation. (Various documents).
• Gay-Marriage Decision: Just the Beginning of the Debate
• Memoirs v. Massachusetts
• Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
• Supreme Judicial Court Oral Arguments Archive