Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health,798 N.E.2d 941,is a landmark Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case in which the Court held that the Massachusetts Constitution requires the state to legally recognize same-sex marriage. The November 18,2003,decision was the first by a U.S. state's highest court to find that same-sex couples had the right to marry. Despite numerous attempts to delay the ruling,and to reverse it,the first marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples on May 17,2004,and the ruling has been in full effect since that date.
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,the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Americas,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.
Margaret Hilary Marshall is an American jurist who served as the 24th chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court,the first woman to hold the position. She was chief justice from 1999 to 2010. On July 21,2010,she announced her retirement. She was Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation until she retired from the board in 2016,Senior Counsel at Choate Hall &Stewart,and a member of the Council of the American Law Institute. Marshall was elected in 2017 to the American Philosophical Society.
Virginia Lynn Linder is an American judge from Oregon who served as the 99th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from January 2007 until January 2016. She served on the Oregon Court of Appeals from 1997 until her election to the state's Supreme Court in the 2006,an electoral campaign in which she defeated former Labor Commissioner and Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Roberts.
Ruth Ida Abrams was the first female justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court,where she served from 1978 to 2000,and the first female appellate justice in Massachusetts.
Martha B. Sosman was an American lawyer and jurist from Massachusetts. She was appointed by Governor Paul Cellucci and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 2000 until her death.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston,the same building which houses the Supreme Judicial Court and the Social Law Library.
John M. Greaney is a former Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and former Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. After his judicial retirement,he served as Director of the Macaronis Institute for Trial and Appellate Advocacy at Suffolk University Law School. He currently is in private practice as senior counsel at Bulkley Richardson in Springfield,Massachusetts.
Judith Cathy Arnold Cowin is a retired justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Ralph D. Gants was an American attorney and jurist who served as the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He was sworn in on July 28,2014. Gants had previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney.
Geraldine S. Hines is an American retired judge who formerly served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 2014 to 2017. She was nominated in July 2014 by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and confirmed by an 8–0 vote of the Governor's Council. She succeeded Ralph D. Gants,who was promoted to chief justice.
Scott Lewis Kafker is an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and the former Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
Frank M. Gaziano is an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
David A. Lowy is an American attorney,academic and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts from 2016 to 2024. In February 2024 Lowy was named general counsel for the University of Massachusetts.
Kimberly S. Budd is the chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and former justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
Elspeth B. Cypher is a former justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts who served from 2017 to 2024. She is also a former justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court,where she served from 2000 to 2017.
Dalila Argaez Wendlandt is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court since 2020. She previously served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court from 2017 to 2020.
Elizabeth Napier "Bessie" Dewar is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court since 2024. She previously served as the state solicitor of Massachusetts from 2016 to 2024. Prior to serving as the state solicitor,she had served as the assistant state solicitor under former state solicitor Peter Sacks.
