The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. [1] It was created in 1972 [2] as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. [3] The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, [4] the same building which houses the Supreme Judicial Court and the Social Law Library. [5]
The Appeals Court hears most appeals from the seven court departments of the Massachusetts Trial Court, including the Superior, District, Probate and Family, Juvenile, Land, Housing, and Boston Municipal Court departments. [6] [7] The Appeals Court also hears appeals from final decisions of certain Massachusetts administrative agencies, including the Department of Industrial Accidents, the Appellate Tax Board, and the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board. [8]
Some types of appeals are not heard before the Appeals Court. For example, an appeal from a conviction of first degree murder goes directly to the Supreme Judicial Court. [9] The Supreme Judicial Court can also elect to bypass review by the Appeals Court and hear a case on "direct appellate review." [10] [11] In the District Court Department, appeals in certain civil cases are made first to the Appellate Division of the District Court before being eligible for appeal to the Appeals Court. [12] After a decision by the Appeals Court, a party may seek "further appellate review" by requesting review by the Supreme Judicial Court. [13]
The Appeals Court usually hears cases in three-judge panels, which rotate so that every judge has an opportunity to sit with every other judge. [14] In addition to its panel sittings, the Appeals Court runs a continuous "single justice" session, with a separate docket. The single justice may review interlocutory orders and orders for injunctive relief issued by certain Trial Court departments, as well as requests for review of summary process appeal bonds, certain attorney's fee awards, motions for stays (postponement) of civil proceedings or criminal sentences pending appeal, and motions to review impoundment orders. Each associate justice sits as single justice for a month at a time. [15] Appeals are heard from September through July at the John Adams Courthouse as well as at special sessions held at various locations such as law schools throughout Massachusetts. [16]
Twenty-five justices sit on the Appeals Court: one chief justice and twenty-four associate justices. The current chief justice of the Appeals Court is Mark V. Green. [17]
If a Massachusetts appellate justice (that is, a justice of either the Appeals Court or of the Supreme Judicial Court) attains age 70 and retires, that justice may be recalled to active service on the Appeals Court as needed. Currently, no recall justices are serving. [18] [19]
The court's current members, listed by seniority, are as follows: [20]
Justice | Appointed | Appointed by | Law school |
---|---|---|---|
Mark V. Green, Chief Justice | 2001 [lower-alpha 1] | Charlie Baker (R) [lower-alpha 2] | Harvard |
Ariane D. Vuono | 2006 | Mitt Romney (R) | Connecticut |
William J. Meade | 2006 | Mitt Romney (R) | Western New England |
Peter J. Rubin | 2008 | Deval Patrick (D) | Harvard |
James R. Milkey | 2009 | Deval Patrick (D) | Harvard |
Amy Lyn Blake | 2014 | Deval Patrick (D) | New England |
Gregory I. Massing | 2014 | Deval Patrick (D) | Virginia |
Eric Neyman | 2015 | Charlie Baker (R) | Boston University |
Vickie L. Henry | 2015 | Charlie Baker (R) | Boston University |
Kenneth V. Desmond Jr. | 2016 | Charlie Baker (R) | Boston College |
Peter W. Sacks | 2016 | Charlie Baker (R) | Harvard |
Sookyoung Shin | 2016 | Charlie Baker (R) | Harvard |
Joseph M. Ditkoff | 2017 | Charlie Baker (R) | Harvard |
Sabita Singh | 2017 | Charlie Baker (R) | Boston University |
John C. Englander | 2017 | Charlie Baker (R) | Boston University |
Kathryn E. Hand | 2019 | Charlie Baker (R) | Boston College |
Marguerite T. Grant | 2020 | Charlie Baker (R) | Stanford |
Maureen E. Walsh | 2021 | Charlie Baker (R) | Western New England |
Rachel E. Hershfang | 2021 | Charlie Baker (R) | Yale |
Robert A. Brennan | 2022 | Charlie Baker (R) | Boston University |
Andrew M. D'Angelo | 2022 | Charlie Baker (R) | Suffolk |
Paul Hart Smyth | 2022 | Charlie Baker (R) | Virginia |
Christopher P. Hodgens | 2022 | Charlie Baker (R) | New England |
Robert Toone | 2023 | Maura Healey (D) | Yale |
Vacant |
Seat | Seat last held by | Vacancy reason | Date of vacancy | Nominee | Date of nomination |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
— | Gabrielle Wolohojian | Elevation to Massachusetts Supreme Court | April 22, 2024 | – | – |
Former justices:
The following justices have been elevated from the Appeals Court to the Supreme Judicial Court
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.
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The Massachusetts Superior Court is a trial court department in Massachusetts.
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