Massachusetts law about judges

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Judicial selection

Massachusetts Constitution, Part the Second, Chapter II, Section I, Article IX

Judicial Nominating Commission

Opinion of the Justices to the Governor, 461 Mass. 1205 (2012)
"[T]he Governor must be physically present and presiding over an assembly of the Executive Council in order for the Lieutenant Governor to vote on matters before the Council"

Executive Order No. 558 Order reconstituting the Judicial Nominating Commission and establishing a code of conduct for commission members and nominees to judicial office

Executive Order No. 591 Order constituting the Supreme Judicial Court Nominating Commission

Judicial conduct

Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:09: Code of Judicial Conduct

Commission on Judicial Conduct
"Responsible for investigating complaints of judicial misconduct against state court judges and for recommending, when necessary, discipline of judges to the Supreme Judicial Court." Includes information on filing a complaint about a judge online.

• MGL c.211C Commission on Judicial Conduct
• Rules of the Commission on Judicial Conduct

Committee on Judicial Ethics, including:

• Chronological index of Judicial Ethics opinions
• Subject index of Judicial Ethics opinions

Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:11: Committee on Judicial Ethics

Judicial directories

• Supreme Judicial Court Justices
• Appeals Court Justices
• Boston Municipal Court Justices
• District Court Justices
• Housing Court Justices
• Juvenile Court Justices
• Land Court Justices
• Probate and Family Court Justices
• Superior Court Justices

Judicial profiles

Court Listener judicial database
The Court Listener Judicial database was formed as partnership with researcher Elliott Ash at Princeton University and with support from the National Science Foundation and Knight Foundation. The database has information about thousands of judges from federal and state courts, including their biographical and educational background, judicial and non-judicial positions held, political affiliations, American Bar Association ratings, campaign finance data, and opinions authored.

Print sources

How to become a judge or clerk magistrate, MCLE, 2017.

Judges in street clothes: acting ethically off-the-bench, McKoski, Raymound J., Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2017. 
Overview of regulations on the extrajudicial activities of judges.   

Last updated:	December 20, 2022