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Margaret H. Marshall

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Margaret H. Marshall
Marshall in 2014
Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
In office
October 14, 1999 – December 19, 2010
Appointed byPaul Cellucci
Preceded byHerbert Wilkins
Succeeded byRoderick Ireland
Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
In office
October 31, 1996 – October 14, 1999
Appointed byWilliam Weld
Preceded byHerbert Wilkins
Succeeded byJudith Cowin
Personal details
Born
Margaret Hilary Marshall

(1944-09-01) September 1, 1944 (age 80)
Newcastle, South Africa
SpouseAnthony Lewis (1984–2013; his death)
EducationUniversity of the Witwatersrand
Harvard University (MA)
Yale University (JD)

Margaret Hilary Marshall (born September 1, 1944) is an American jurist who served as the 24th chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the first woman to hold the position. She was chief justice from 1999 to 2010. On July 21, 2010, she announced her retirement.[1] She was Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation until she retired from the board in 2016,[2] Senior Counsel at Choate Hall & Stewart, and a member of the Council of the American Law Institute. Marshall was elected in 2017 to the American Philosophical Society.[3]

Early life and education

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Marshall was born in Newcastle, South Africa, and raised Anglican.[4] Margaret was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand where she was active in student and anti apartheid politics. In 1967 she was president of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), which was dedicated to ending oppressive minority rule and achieving equality for all South Africans. According to Marshall, "There was no access to justice in South Africa...There were a few courageous barristers who agreed to represent people charged with political crimes, but, by and large, if you were a black South African, you had no justice. The death penalty was imposed in vastly disproportionate numbers. Many of the offenses were applicable to black South Africans only."[5] In June 1966, as a NUSAS vice president, she welcomed U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy to South Africa, in place of union's president Ian Robertson, who had been banned from political appearances.[6] Marshall emigrated to the United States to escape political persecution. In Johannesburg, she attended Kingsmead College, and in Delaware she graduated from the Tatnall School.[7] She earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University in 1969, and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School in 1976. She acquired United States citizenship in 1978.[8]

In 1984, she married then-New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis,[7] to whom she remained married until his death in 2013.[9]

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From 1976 to 1989, she was an associate and a partner in private practice at the Boston law firm of Csaplar & Bok. From 1989 to 1992, she was a partner in the Boston law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart. Also from 1991 to 1992, she was president of the Boston Bar Association, the oldest bar association in the United States.[10] From 1992 to 1996, she was general counsel to Harvard University.

Marshall was appointed to be an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1996 by Republican governor William F. Weld. She was named as chief justice in September 1999 by Republican governor Paul Cellucci, to begin her term on October 14, 1999. She is the second woman to serve on the Supreme Judicial Court, the oldest appellate court in the Western Hemisphere, and the first to serve as chief justice in its more than 300-year history.

In the course of her term, she wrote more than 200 opinions. Marshall wrote the ground-breaking decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that declared that the Massachusetts constitution does not permit the state to deny citizens the right to same-sex marriage.[11]

On July 21, 2010, Marshall announced her decision to retire from the court, effective at the end of October. Marshall said her decision was prompted by a desire to spend more time with her husband Anthony Lewis, who was suffering from Parkinson's disease.[12] After stepping down from the bench, she rejoined Choate, Hall & Stewart.[13]

Marshall served as the senior fellow of the Yale Corporation, the governing body of Yale University. until 2016. She is the first woman to hold the position, and previously served a term as a Corporation fellow from 2004 to 2010.[14]

Marshall is the 2021 recipient of the Bolch Prize for the Rule of Law[15] awarded by the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School. On May 27, 2021, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Harvard University. In May 2022 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Marshall, Margaret H. (21 July 2010). "Statement of Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall" (PDF) (Press release). Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Jurist Margaret H. Marshall named Senior Fellow of Yale Corporation". YaleNews. 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
  3. ^ "Newly Elected - April 2017 | American Philosophical Society". Archived from the original on 2017-09-15.
  4. ^ "Holding Court". 18 January 2013.
  5. ^ lsc.gov Archived 2006-03-12 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Tye, Larry (5 July 2016). Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon. Random House Publishing Group. pp. 371–373. ISBN 9780679645207.
  7. ^ a b "Margaret H. Marshall, a Law Partner, Is Wed to Anthony Lewis, a Columnist". The New York Times. 24 September 1984. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  8. ^ Harvard, Law School. "faculty". Harvard University. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  9. ^ Saltzman, Jonathan (July 22, 2010). "Marshall, groundbreaker, to step down as SJC chief, Author of gay-marriage ruling wants 'final seasons' with ill spouse". Boston.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  10. ^ "News Release: Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall Honored by Boston Bar Association". Boston Bar Association. 29 September 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  11. ^ Russell, Jenna (September 23, 2005). "SJC chief decries 'attacks' on judges, Marshall defends bench independence". Boston.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  12. ^ Ellement, John (21 July 2010). "Margaret Marshall, author of Mass. gay marriage decision, to retire". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  13. ^ MacQuarrie, Brian (January 4, 2012). "Margaret H. Marshall, former SJC chief justice, to restart law practice at Choate Hall & Stewart". Boston.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  14. ^ "Jurist Margaret H. Marshall named Senior Fellow of Yale Corporation". Yale News. Yale University. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  15. ^ "Retired Mass. Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall to receive 2021 Bolch Prize | Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke University School of Law". 7 April 2021. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Penn's 2022 Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipients". Retrieved 2022-05-30.
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Legal offices
Preceded by Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
1996–1999 		Succeeded by
Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
1999–2010 		Succeeded by
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