Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday nominated Appeals Court Judge Gabrielle Wolohojian to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Judicial Court, elevating to the state’s highest court a longtime appellate judge who is also the governor’s former domestic partner.
Healey’s choice to pick a former partner for a lofty perch on the SJC raised eyebrows around Beacon Hill on Wednesday and led to calls from the Republican Party for the governor to withdraw the nomination.
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The governor defended the choice Wednesday afternoon saying she is “proud of nominating somebody who is so deserving and so qualified” and that “it is what the commonwealth deserves.”
“There is no one more qualified. I am very comfortable in saying that,” Healey told reporters outside her office Wednesday afternoon. “If you look at her record and you look at her career, as a lawyer and then as a judge these past 16 years on the Appeals Court, there’s no more no one more qualified or more prepared. You know, I don’t want the fact that she had a personal relationship with me to deprive the commonwealth of a person who’s most qualified for the position.”