Hon. Ralph D. Gants was sworn in as chief justice of the SJC on July 28.
Photograph courtesy of the SJC
Justice Ralph D. Gants became the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court's 37th chief justice during a swearing-in ceremony held on
July 28 in the Great Hall of the John Adams Courthouse before a
crowd of several hundred friends, family and colleagues.
SJC Associate Justice Margot Botsford served as Mistress of
Ceremonies and the Hon. Dina E. Fine, first justice of the Housing
Court, Western Division, provided remarks. Gov. Deval L. Patrick
led the official swearing in portion of the ceremony.
Gants, the youngest jurist to sit on the SJC, has held two prior
judicial positions. Gov. William F. Weld first appointed Gants as
an associate justice of the Superior Court in 1997. In 2009,
Patrick appointed Gants to the Supreme Judicial Court as an
associate justice. Gants has served as co-chair of the
Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission since 2010 and has
served as the justice member of the Supreme Judicial Court's
Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services since 2011. He
chaired the Standing Committee that revised the Model Jury
Instructions on Homicide in 2013.
During his remarks, Gants noted that six of the seven trial
court departments in Massachusetts will have new chief justices and
stressed how the court system must serve as a "problem-solver."
Gants succeeds Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland, who served as
chief justice since 2010. Ireland, the first African American to
serve on the SJC, officially retired on July 25.