The Massachusetts Bar Association, earlier this week, filed an amicus curiae brief in the pending Supreme Judicial Court case of In Re: Shelley M. Joseph.
On May 30, 2019, attorneys for Hon. Shelley Joseph filed a motion with the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) for partial reconsideration of the SJC’s suspension order of Judge Joseph to ask the Court to lift its “without pay” component on grounds of due process or precedent. The order was entered without a hearing and its severe financial consequences are enormously difficult to ameliorate given the restrictions the Code of Judicial Conduct imposes on non-judicial employment. A hearing on this matter was held on Wednesday, June 26, 2019.
The MBA filed an amicus brief in support of that motion, due to the unprecedented act of suspension of pay without due process. The brief in the matter focuses solely on the issue of suspension without pay, without due process or precedent to support it. It does not address the underlying federal criminal case.
Click here to read the amicus brief.