Chief Justice Margaret Marshall retires from SJC
Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall, who led the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, announced this morning that she would retire.
We’re saddened to see the end of the career of a distinguished jurist. Chief Justice Marshall led a court that tackled many cases of importance to the LGBT and HIV communities, not the least of which was Goodridge.
“The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens.”
These words from the Goodridge decision are as clear and moving a statement of legal equality as we have ever seen. In writing them, Chief Justice Marshall and the Supreme Judicial Court profoundly changed the lives of our Commonwealth’s gay and lesbian people – providing not just the ability to marry, but a real sense of equal citizenship.
We wish Chief Justice Marshall and her family well in her retirement.