Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Supreme Judicial Court; of Massachusetts
Established	1692
Country	United States
Location	Boston, Massachusetts
Composition method	Executive appointments with quasi-legislative consent
Authorized by	Massachusetts Constitution
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of the United States
Website	Official website
Chief Justice
Currently	Ralph Gants
Since	July 28, 2014
Lead position ends	2024

Coordinates: 42°21′33″N 71°03′39″W / 42.359297°N 71.060954°W / 42.359297; -71.060954

John Adams Courthouse, home to the SJC

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Americas,^[1] 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.^[2] The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania disputes this, claiming to be eight years older.^[3]

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.

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. The proper 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.^[4]
Rex v. Wemms, et al. (1770) – Six soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre were found not guilty, and two more – the only two proven to have fired – were found guilty of manslaughter.^[5]
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..."^[6] 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.

Current composition

The currently serving justices are:

Justice	Began active service	Appointed by	Reaches age 70
Ralph Gants	2009 (Assoc.) 2014 (Chief)	Deval Patrick (both)	2024
Barbara Lenk	2011^[7]	Deval Patrick	2020
Frank M. Gaziano	2016	Charlie Baker	2034
David A. Lowy	2016	Charlie Baker	2031
Kimberly S. Budd	2016	Charlie Baker	2036
Elspeth B. Cypher	2017 ^[8]	Charlie Baker	2029
Scott L. Kafker	2017	Charlie Baker	2029

Notable members

William Cushing, Horace Gray, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. were Chief Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court when they were appointed to serve as Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
Lemuel Shaw was one of the greatest American judges of the mid-19th century
Charles Fried, who served on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1995 to 1999, was United States Solicitor General from 1985 to 1989 under Ronald Reagan

List of Chief Justices

#	Chief Justice	Took office	Left office	Appointed by	Notes
1	William Stoughton	1692	1701	Sir William Phips	Died in office.
2	Wait Winthrop	1701	1701	Governor's Council	Resigned.
3	Isaac Addington	1702	1703	Joseph Dudley	Resigned.
4	Wait Winthrop	1708	1717	Joseph Dudley	Died in office.
5	Samuel Sewall	1718	1728	Samuel Shute	Resigned.
6	Benjamin Lynde, Sr.	1729	1745	William Burnet	Died in office.
7	Paul Dudley	1745	1751	William Shirley	Died in office.
8	Stephen Sewall	1752	1760	William Shirley	Died in office.
9	Thomas Hutchinson	1761	1769	Francis Bernard	Resigned.
10	Benjamin Lynde, Jr.	1769	1771	Thomas Hutchinson	Resigned.
11	Peter Oliver	1772	1775	Thomas Hutchinson	Forced out by the revolution.
12	John Adams	1775	1776	Governor's Council	Adams accepted the appointment for political reasons, but never sat on the court and eventually resigned.
13	William Cushing	1777	1789	Governor's Council	Resigned upon appointment to the United States Supreme Court.
14	Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent	1790	1791	John Hancock	Died in office.
15	Francis Dana	1791	1806	John Hancock	Resigned.
16	Theophilus Parsons	1806	1813	Caleb Strong	Died in office.
17	Samuel Sewall	1814	1814	Caleb Strong	Died in office.
18	Isaac Parker	1814	1830	Caleb Strong	Died in office.
19	Lemuel Shaw	1830	1860	Levi Lincoln, Jr.	Resigned.
20	George Tyler Bigelow	1860	1867	Nathaniel Prentice Banks	Resigned.
21	Reuben Atwater Chapman	1868	1873	Alexander H. Bullock	Died in office.
22	Horace Gray	1873	1882	William B. Washburn	Resigned upon appointment to the United States Supreme Court.
23	Marcus Morton	1882	1890	John D. Long	Resigned.
24	Walbridge A. Field	1890	1899	John Q. A. Brackett	Died in office.
25	Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.	1899	1902	Roger Wolcott	Resigned upon appointment to the United States Supreme Court.
26	Marcus Perrin Knowlton	1902	1911	Winthrop M. Crane	Resigned.
27	Arthur Prentice Rugg	1911	1938	Eugene Foss	Died in office.
28	Fred Tarbell Field	1938	1947	Charles F. Hurley	Resigned.
29	Stanley Elroy Qua	1947	1956	Robert F. Bradford	Resigned.
30	Raymond Sanger Wilkins	1956	1970	Christian Herter	Resigned.
31	G. Joseph Tauro	1970	1976	Francis W. Sargent	Resigned.
32	Edward F. Hennessey	1976	1989	Michael Dukakis	Resigned.
33	Paul J. Liacos	1989	1996	Michael Dukakis	Resigned.
34	Herbert P. Wilkins	1996	1999	William Weld	Resigned.
35	Margaret H. Marshall	1999	2010	Paul Cellucci	Resigned.
36	Roderick L. Ireland	2010	2014	Deval Patrick	Resigned.
37	Ralph Gants	2014	incumbent	Deval Patrick

Associate justices appointed by royal governors (1692–1775)

All judges appointed before 1695 were reappointed in that year (except John Richards, who had died) because the legislation creating the court was vetoed in that year by the Privy Council. Several further attempts to legislate the court's existence were vetoed, and it was not until 1699 that the provincial assembly enacted laws creating courts that satisfied the Privy Council.

Justice	Began active service	Ended active service	Appointed by	Notes
Thomas Danforth	1692	1699	Sir William Phips	Died in office.
Wait Winthrop	1692	1701	Sir William Phips	Promoted to chief justice; resigned in 1702. Winthrop rejoined the court as chief justice in 1708, and died while holding that office in 1717.
John Richards	1692	1694	Sir William Phips	Died in office.
Samuel Sewall	1692	1718	Sir William Phips	Promoted to chief justice; resigned 1728.
Elisha Cooke, Sr.	1695	1702	William Stoughton	Died in office.
John Walley	1700	1712	William Stoughton	Died in office.
John Saffin	1701	1702	Governor's Council	Appointment not renewed upon the accession of Queen Anne.
John Hathorne	1702	1712	Joseph Dudley	Resigned.
John Leverett	1702	1708	Joseph Dudley	Resigned.
Jonathan Curwin	1708	1715	Joseph Dudley	Appointment not renewed upon the accession of King George I.
Benjamin Lynde, Sr.	1712	1729	Joseph Dudley	Promoted to chief justice; died in office, 1745.
Nathaniel Thomas	1712	1718	Joseph Dudley	Died in office.
Addington Davenport	1715	1736		Died in office.
Edmund Quincy	1718	1737	Samuel Shute	Resigned.
Paul Dudley	1718	1745	Samuel Shute	Promoted to chief justice; died in office, 1751.
John Cushing	1728	1733	William Burnet	Resigned.
Jonathan Remington	1733	1745	Jonathan Belcher	Died in office.
Richard Saltonstall	1736	1756	Jonathan Belcher	Resigned.
Thomas Graves	1737	1738	Jonathan Belcher	Resigned.
Stephen Sewall	1739	1752	Jonathan Belcher	Promoted to chief justice; died in office, 1760.
Nathaniel Hubbard	1745	1746	William Shirley
Benjamin Lynde, Jr.	1747	1769	William Shirley	Promoted to chief justice; resigned, 1771.
John Cushing, Jr.	1747	1771	William Shirley	Resigned.
Chambers Russell	1752	1766	Spencer Phips	Died in office.
Peter Oliver	1756	1772	William Shirley	Promoted to chief justice; forced out during revolution, 1775.
Edmund Trowbridge	1767	1775	Francis Bernard	Forced out during revolution.
Foster Hutchinson (judge)	1771	1775	Thomas Hutchinson	Forced out during revolution.
Nathaniel Ropes	1772	1774	Thomas Hutchinson	Died in office.
William Cushing	1772	1777	Thomas Hutchinson	Survived reorganization of the court, 1775; promoted to chief justice, 1777; resigned upon appointment to United States Supreme Court, 1789.
William Brown	1774	1775	Thomas Hutchinson	Brown's appointment was approved during the tenure of Governor Thomas Gage, but was made by Hutchinson. Brown was forced out during the revolution.

Justices appointed by the Provincial Congress (1775–1780)

Justice	Began active service	Ended active service	Notes
John Adams	1775	1776	Adams never sat with the court, and resigned in 1776.
Nathaniel Sargent	1775	1791	Appointed chief justice by John Hancock in 1790.
William Reed	1775	Refused	Reed refused the appointment.
Robert Treat Paine	1776	Refused	Paine refused the appointment.
James Warren	1776	Refused	Warren refused the appointment.
Jedediah Foster	1776	1779	Died in office.
James Sullivan	1776	1807	Resigned to become governor.
David Sewall	1777	1789	Resigned to become judge of the United States District Court for Maine.

Associate justices appointed under the state constitution (1780-present)

Justice	Began active service	Ended active service	Appointed by	Notes
Ruth Abrams	1978	2000	Michael Dukakis
William Allen	1881	1891	John Davis Long	Died in office.
Charles Allen	1882	1898	John Davis Long	Resigned.
Seth Ames	1869	1881	William Claflin	Resigned.
James Barker	1891	1905	William E. Russell	Died in office.
George Tyler Bigelow	1850	1860	George N. Briggs	Promoted to chief justice.
Margot Botsford	2007	2017	Deval Patrick
Theophilus Bradbury	1797	1803	Increase Sumner	Removed due to physical infirmity.
Henry Braley	1902	1929	Winthrop M. Crane	Died in office.
Robert Braucher	1971	1981	Francis W. Sargent
Kimberly Budd	2016	incumbent	Charlie Baker
James Carroll	1915	1932	David I. Walsh	Died in office.
Reuben Atwater Chapman	1860	1868	Nathaniel Prentice Banks	Promoted to chief justice.
Waldo Colburn	1882	1885	John Davis Long	Died in office.
James Colt	1865	1866	John Albion Andrew	Resigned.
James Colt	1868	1881	Alexander H. Bullock	Died in office.
Robert J. Cordy	2001	2016	Paul Cellucci
Edward Counihan	1949	1960	Paul A. Dever
Judith A. Cowin	1999	2011	Paul Cellucci	Resigned.
Louis Cox	1937	1944	Charles F. Hurley
John C. Crosby	1914	1937	David I. Walsh	Resigned.
Caleb Cushing	1852	1853	George S. Boutwell	Resigned to become United States Attorney General.
Nathan Cushing	1790	1800	John Hancock	Resigned.
R. Ammi Cutter	1956	1972	Christian Herter
Francis Dana	1785	1806	John Hancock	Promoted to chief justice.
Thomas Dawes	1792	1802	John Hancock	Resigned.
Charles Decourcy	1911	1924	Eugene Foss	Died in office.
Charles Devens	1873	1877	William B. Washburn	Resigned to become United States Attorney General.
Charles Devens	1881	1891	John Davis Long	Second appointment; died in office.
Daniel Dewey	1814	1815	Caleb Strong	Died in office.
Charles Augustus Dewey	1837	1866	Edward Everett	Died in office.
Arthur Dolan	1937	1949	Charles F. Hurley
Charles Donahue	1932	1944	Joseph B. Ely
Fernande R.V. Duffly	2011	2016	Deval Patrick
William Endicott	1873	1882	William B. Washburn	Resigned.
Fred T. Field	1929	1938	Frank G. Allen	Promoted to chief justice; resigned in 1947.
Walbridge A. Field	1881	1890	John Davis Long	Promoted to chief justice.
Richard Fletcher	1848	1853	George N. Briggs	Resigned.
Charles Forbes	1848	1848	George N. Briggs	Resigned.
Dwight Foster	1866	1869	Alexander H. Bullock	Resigned.
Charles Fried	1995	1999	William Weld	Resigned.
Ralph D. Gants	2009	2014	Deval Patrick	Promoted to chief justice (incumbent)
William Gardner	1885	1887	George D. Robinson	Resigned.
Frank Gaziano	2016	incumbent	Charlie Baker
Horace Gray	1864	1873	John Albion Andrew	Promoted to chief justice.
John M. Greaney	1989	2008	Michael Dukakis	Resigned.
John Hammond	1898	1914	Roger Wolcott	Resigned.
Edward F. Hennessey	1971	1976	Francis W. Sargent	Promoted to chief justice; resigned in 1989.
Geraldine Hines	2014	2017	Deval Patrick
Ebenezer R. Hoar	1859	1869	Nathaniel Prentice Banks	Resigned to become United States Attorney General.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.	1882	1899	John Davis Long	Promoted to chief justice.
Samuel Hubbard	1842	1848	John Davis	Died in office.
Roderick L. Ireland	1997	2010	William Weld	Promoted to chief justice; resigned in 2014.
Charles Jackson	1813	1823	Caleb Strong	Resigned.
Charles Jenney	1919	1923	Calvin Coolidge	Died in office.
Benjamin Kaplan	1972	1981	Francis W. Sargent	Resigned.
Paul G. Kirk Sr.	1960	1971	Foster Furcolo
Marcus Perrin Knowlton	1887	1902	Oliver Ames	Promoted to chief justice; resigned in 1911.
John Lathrop	1891	1906	William Russell	Resigned.
Barbara Lenk	2011	incumbent	Deval Patrick
Paul J. Liacos	1976	1989	Michael Dukakis	Promoted to chief justice.
Levi Lincoln, Jr.	1824	1825	William Eustis	Resigned to become governor.
Otis Lord	1875	1882	William Gaston	Resigned.
William Loring	1899	1919	Roger Wolcott	Resigned.
David A. Lowy	2016	incumbent	Charlie Baker
Henry Lummus	1932	1955	Joseph B. Ely
Neil L. Lynch	1981	2000	Edward J. King
Margaret H. Marshall	1996	1999	William Weld	Promoted to chief justice; resigned in 2010.
Pliny Merrick	1853	1864	John H. Clifford	Resigned.
Theron Metcalf	1848	1865	George N. Briggs	Resigned.
Marcus Morton	1825	1840	Levi Lincoln, Jr.	Resigned to become governor.
Marcus Morton, Jr.	1869	1882	William Claflin	Promoted to chief justice.
James Morton	1890	1913	John Q. A. Brackett	Resigned.
Joseph R. Nolan	1981	1995	Edward J. King
Robert Treat Paine	1790	1804	John Hancock	Resigned.
Isaac Parker	1806	1814	Caleb Strong	Promoted to chief justice; died in office.
Francis Patrick O'Connor	1981	1997	Edward J. King	Resigned.
Edward Pierce	1914	1937	David I. Walsh	Resigned.
Samuel Putnam	1814	1842	Caleb Strong	Resigned.
Stanley Elroy Qua	1934	1947	Joseph B. Ely	Promoted to chief justice; resigned 1956.
Francis Quirico	1969	1981	Francis W. Sargent
Paul Reardon	1962	1977	John A. Volpe
James Ronan	1938	1960	Charles F. Hurley
Arthur Rugg	1906	1911	Curtis Guild, Jr.	Promoted to chief justice; died in office.
George Sanderson	1924	1932	Channing H. Cox	Died in office.
Theodore Sedgwick	1802	1813	Caleb Strong	Died in office.
Samuel Sewall	1800	1814	Caleb Strong	Promoted to chief justice; died shortly afterward.
Henry Sheldon	1905	1915	William Lewis Douglas	Resigned.
Martha B. Sosman	2000	2007	Paul Cellucci	Died in office.
Augustus Lord Soule	1877	1881	Alexander H. Rice	Resigned.
John Spalding	1944	1971	Leverett Saltonstall
Jacob Spiegel	1960	1972	Foster Furcolo
Francis X. Spina	1999	2016	Paul Cellucci
Simeon Strong	1801	1805	Caleb Strong	Died in office.
Increase Sumner	1782	1797	John Hancock	Resigned to become governor.
G. Joseph Tauro	1970	1976	Francis W. Sargent
George Thatcher	1801	1824	Caleb Strong	Resigned.
Benjamin Thomas	1853	1859	John H. Clifford	Resigned.
William Wait	1923	1934	Channing H. Cox	Resigned.
John Wells	1866	1875	Alexander H. Bullock	Died in office.
Arthur Whittemore	1955	1969	Christian Herter
Samuel Wilde	1815	1850	Caleb Strong	Resigned.
Herbert P. Wilkins	1972	1996	Francis W. Sargent	Promoted to chief justice; resigned in 1999.
Raymond Wilkins	1944	1956	Leverett Saltonstall	Promoted to chief justice; resigned in 1970.
Harold P. Williams	1947	1962	Robert F. Bradford

Notes

↑ "Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts home page". Retrieved 2013-10-16.
↑ Eichholz, Alice (2004). Alice Eichholz, ed. Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources (3rd Revised ed.). Ancestry Publishing. p. 316. ISBN 978-1593311667.
↑ "About the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania - SCOPA Review". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
↑ Zobel, Hiller (1970). Boston Massacre, pp. 243–265
↑ Zobel, pp. 269–286
↑ Lowell, Delmar R., The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899 (p 35); Rutland VT, The Tuttle Company, 1899; ISBN 978-0-7884-1567-8.
↑ Levenson, Michael (May 4, 2011). "Lenk approved for SJC; first openly gay justice on state's highest court". Boston Globe. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
↑ "Justice Margot Botsford retires from SJC - The Boston Globe". Retrieved 7 July 2017.

References

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

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts home page". Retrieved 2013-10-16.

[Eichholz-2] Eichholz, Alice (2004). Alice Eichholz, ed. Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources (3rd Revised ed.). Ancestry Publishing. p. 316. ISBN 978-1593311667.

[3] "About the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania - SCOPA Review". Retrieved 7 July 2017.

[4] Zobel, Hiller (1970). Boston Massacre, pp. 243–265

[5] Zobel, pp. 269–286

[6] Lowell, Delmar R., The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899 (p 35); Rutland VT, The Tuttle Company, 1899; ISBN 978-0-7884-1567-8.

[7] Levenson, Michael (May 4, 2011). "Lenk approved for SJC; first openly gay justice on state's highest court". Boston Globe. Retrieved May 4, 2011.

[8] "Justice Margot Botsford retires from SJC - The Boston Globe". Retrieved 7 July 2017.

Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Chief justices (1692–present)	Stoughton Winthrop Addington Winthrop Samuel Sewall Lynde Sr. Dudley Stephen Sewall T. Hutchinson Lynde Jr. Oliver Adams Cushing Sargent Dana Parsons Sewall Parker Shaw Bigelow Chapman Gray Morton W. Field Holmes Knowlton Rugg F. Field Qua R. Wilkins Tauro Hennessey Liacos H. Wilkins Marshall Ireland Gants
Provincial period Associate justices (1692–1775)	Danforth Richards Samuel Sewall Winthrop Cooke Walley Saffin Hathorne Leverett Curwin Lynde Sr. Thomas Davenport Quincy Dudley J. Cushing Sr. Remington Saltonstall Graves Stephen Sewall Hubbard Lynde Jr. J. Cushing Jr. Russell Oliver Trowbridge F. Hutchinson Ropes W. Cushing Brown
Revolutionary period Associate justices (1775–80)	Sargent Reed Paine Warren Foster Sullivan D. Sewall
Commonwealth period Associate justices (1780–present)	Sumner Dana N. Cushing Paine Dawes Bradbury Sewall Strong Thatcher Sedgwick Parker Jackson D. Dewey Putnam Wilde C. Dewey Lincoln M. Morton Sr. Hubbard Fletcher Forbes Metcalf Bigelow C. Cushing Merrick Thomas Hoar Chapman Gray Colt Foster Ames Wells M. Morton Jr. Devens Endicott Lord Soule W. Allen Devens W. Field C. Allen Colburn Holmes Gardner Knowlton J. Morton Barker Lathrop Hammond Loring Braley Sheldon Rugg Decourcy Crosby Pierce Carroll Jenney Wait Sanderson F. Field Donahue Lummus Qua Cox Dolan Ronan Spalding R. Wilkins Williams Counihan Whittemore Cutter Kirk Spiegel Reardon Quirico Braucher Hennessey Kaplan H. Wilkins Liacos Abrams Lynch Nolan O'Connor Greaney Fried Marshall Ireland Cowin Spina Sosman Cordy Botsford Gants Duffly Lenk Hines Gaziano Lowy Budd Cypher Kafker
Italics indicate individuals who were offered seats on the court, but refused

Current statewide government officials of Massachusetts
U.S. Senators	Elizabeth Warren Ed Markey
State government	Charlie Baker, Governor Karyn Polito, Lieutenant Governor William Galvin, Secretary of State Maura Healey, Attorney General Deb Goldberg, Treasurer Suzanne Bump, Auditor
State Senate	Karen Spilka, President Marc Pacheco, President pro tempore Cynthia Stone Creem, Majority Leader Bruce Tarr, Minority Leader
State House	Robert DeLeo, Speaker Patricia Haddad, Speaker pro tempore Ronald Mariano, Majority Leader Bradley Jones, Minority Leader
Supreme Judicial Court	Ralph Gants, Chief Justice Barbara Lenk Frank M. Gaziano David A. Lowy Kimberly S. Budd Elspeth B. Cypher Scott L. Kafker, Associate Justices
See also: Political party strength in Massachusetts

Government of Massachusetts
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Judicial	Boston Municipal Court District Court Superior Court Land Court Juvenile Court Housing Court Massachusetts Probate and Family Court Appeals Court (Judges) Supreme Judicial Court
Independent agencies	Board of Library Commissioners Commission Against Discrimination Commission on the Status of Women Disabled Persons Protection Commission Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board Massachusetts District Attorneys Massachusetts Inspector General Office of Campaign and Political Finance Office of the Comptroller Massachusetts Sheriffs State Ethics Commission
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