This totally sucks
Justice Martha Sosman of the Supreme Judicial Court passed away this weekend. She'd been battling cancer. My last case in front of her came in January, and she was on oxygen full-time by then.
She came to that Court from the Superior Court (our felony court), and brought all her common sense and experience from that Court to apply in cases in the SJC. This was refreshing, considering that some of the judges on the SJC have no trial court experience and tend to view problems in the abstract, rather than considering the impact rulings might have on the running of the courts.
She was also certainly a positive role model for women in the profession.
On the purely self-centered side, this is going to throw wide open the judicial nominating process. Two Appeals Court seats and a Supreme Judicial Court seat. This governor will get to appoint two SJC judges now, instead of just the potential one seat in which the judge is aging out.
I'd been a little on the fence about really applying, but now I think I should put my papers in.
I'm waiting for a call back from my friend Sue, who's the Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court. Hopefully she'll have news on any funeral arrangements. I'm absolutely going to attend.