Friday, July 27, 2007

Margot Botsford SJC Pick

Yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick nominated Superior Court Judge Margot Botsford to the Supreme Judicial Court. The Governor's Council plans to set a date for Botsford's confirmation hearing next week.

Judge Botsford was responsible for the Hancock Report, a 350-page report to the Supreme Judicial Court on public school funding in Massachusetts in the case Hancock v. Driscoll. While the SJC dismissed the case, concluding it was the role of the legislature and not the court to determine the structure of school funding, "three days after the SJC's decision, the state legislature-having 'seen the handwriting on the wall,' says Botsford-passed the Education Reform Act, which restructured the formula by which state funds were doled out to local districts," according to the Northeastern University Alumni Magazine. Law librarians know her best from her work as a long-time editor of Handbook of Legal Research in Massachusetts.

More information on the judicial nomination and approval process is available from the Judicial Nomination Commission.