BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday nominated an appeals court judge and former romantic partner with whom she shared a home for several years to an open seat on the state’s highest court.
Gabrielle R. Wolohojian of the Massachusetts Appeals Court would serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court if her nomination is approved. Wolohojian is the second nomination to the state’s highest court by Healey, the first woman and first open member of the LGBTQ community elected governor of Massachusetts.
“There is no one better qualified or better prepared to join the SJC than Judge Wolohojian. I’m proud of that nomination and I’m proud to nominate someone so deserving and so qualified. It is what the Commonwealth deserves,” Healey told reporters.
“Obviously I’ve had a personal relationship with Judge Wolohojian for many years, so I happen to know something about her character and her integrity and the kind of person she is,” Healey, a Democrat, added.
Healey said Wolohojian received the unanimous recommendation from the state’s Supreme Judicial Nominating Commission — a five-member board appointed by the governor.
Healey would not say whether any other people had been recommended for the vacancy.
“There is no one qualified anymore. I feel very comfortable saying that,” Healey said. “I don’t want the fact that she had a personal relationship with me to deprive the commonwealth of someone best suited for the position.”
Healey said she did not think Wolohojian should recuse herself from cases involving the government. She said she currently oversees cases involving government agencies and the Executive Office.
Amy Carnevale, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, called on Healey to withdraw Wolohojian’s name.
“It is deeply inappropriate for the Governor to nominate an individual with whom she has had a long-term romantic relationship in the past to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. This nomination clearly demonstrates a lack of accountability inherent in one-party rule,” Carnevale said in a statement.
Wolohojian, 63, would fill the seat vacated by Judge David Lowy. Last year, Healey nominated then-State Attorney Elizabeth Dewar to the Supreme Court.
Wolohojian was appointed to the Court of Appeals in February 2008 and has made more than 900 decisions, according to Healey’s office. She also chaired the Advisory Committee on the Supreme Court Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Healey and Wolohojian, who met while both working at the Hale law firm in Boston & Dorr had been together for eight years when Healey began her first term as attorney general in 2015, according to a Boston Magazine profile.
Wolohojian and Healey had lived together in a row house in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood, which also served as Healey’s campaign headquarters. Wolohojian played no public role in the campaign. The governor now lives in Arlington with her current partner, Joanna Lydgate.
Healey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment from the governor, but said she would address reporters later Wednesday.
Wolohojian must appear before the eight-member Governor’s Council charged with reviewing and approving judicial appointments.
The Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Massachusetts. The seven judges hear appeals in a range of criminal and civil cases.
Judge Wolohojian, a New York native and granddaughter of Armenian immigrants, received a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Rutgers University in 1982; a PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford in 1987; and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1989, where she was editor of the Columbia Law Review.
Healey’s office also described Wolohojian as an accomplished violinist who regularly performs with orchestras, including the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra.
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This story checks out to show that the body that approved the recommendation was the five-member Supreme Judicial Nominating Commission, not the state’s 27-member Judicial Nominating Commission.