PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT
John Adams Courthouse
One Pemberton Square
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
MEDIA ADVISORY
CONTACT:
Jennifer Donahue / Erika Gully-Santiago
(617) 557-1114
Jennifer.Donahue@jud.state.ma.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2017
Honorable Scott L. Kafker to be Ceremonially Sworn In by Governor Baker as Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
WHAT:
On November 14, Governor Charles D. Baker will deliver a ceremonial administration of the Oath of Office in the Great Hall of the John Adams Courthouse, swearing in the Honorable Scott L. Kafker as Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. Justice Kafker was administered the official oath on August 21, 2017, before the start of the new court year in order to begin hearing oral arguments in time for the Court's Sitting Week in September. Governor Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn E. Polito will deliver remarks at the ceremony.
Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice David A. Lowy will deliver opening remarks. Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Elspeth B. Cypher, and retired Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justices Judith Cowin and Robert J. Cordy will also speak at the event. Justice Kafker will speak following the ceremonial Oath of Office.
WHEN:
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
4:30 p.m.
WHERE:
John Adams Courthouse
Great Hall
Boston, Massachusetts
About Justice Scott L. Kafker:
Scott L. Kafker, Associate Justice, was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court by Governor Charlie D. Baker on August 21, 2017. Prior to this appointment, Justice Kafker served as Chief Justice of the Appeals Court from 2015 to 2017.
Justice Kafker graduated from Amherst College in 1981 and from the University of Chicago Law School in 1985, where he was on the Law Review. After law school, he served as a law clerk to Justice Charles L. Levin of the Michigan Supreme Court, then as a law clerk to Judge Mark L. Wolf of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In 1987, he joined the Boston law firm of Foley, Hoag & Eliot as an associate. From 1991 to 1993, Justice Kafker was deputy chief legal counsel to Governor William F. Weld. In 1993, he was named chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Port Authority. He was appointed to the Appeals Court by Governor Paul Cellucci and joined the Court on March 7, 2001. Governor Baker appointed him the sixth Chief Justice of the Appeals Court on July 22, 2015.
Justice Kafker taught state constitutional law at Boston College Law School from 2009 to 2015. He has also served on the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of book reviews, comments and articles appearing in the University of Chicago Law Review, The Labor Lawyer, Massachusetts Law Review, Michigan State Law Review, New England Law Review, Washington and Lee Law Review, and the Rutgers Law Journal. He served on the Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure from 2008 to 2015. He is also a member of the American Law Institute.
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