In March, 18 legislators from largely rural Western Massachusetts sent a letter to first-term Democratic Governor Maura Healey calling on her to fill open seats in the region’s judiciary.
“We need judges to fill the seats that are currently empty so that our courts can function at the capacity that they should, with the kind of equitable access to justice that all of us want for people in Western Massachusetts," said Democratic State Senator Jo Comerford of the Hampshire, Franklin, and Worcester District, one of the signatories. “We had four of the 11 seats on the Western Mass Superior Court vacant, right? And so, we're addressing those vacancies. We still have a District Court serving both Northern and Southern Berkshire that we want to address and two remaining seats.”
State Representative Leigh Davis of the 3rd Berkshire State House district, another Democrat, also signed on to the letter.
“It's very, very important that we have regional equity, especially when it comes to judges," she told WAMC. "Western Mass is a desert for judges and it's really important that our county is served by the judges that are representing the district.”
On Wednesday, the Healey administration responded to those concerns by nominating two Western Mass attorneys to the Superior Court.
“We have two Superior Court associate justice nominees: One is a current sitting District Court judge Charles Groce, and the other is attorney Jeff Trapani. They are exceptional candidates," said Democrat Tara Jacobs of North Adams, who sits on the Governor’s Council.
The eight-member body is tasked with advising the commonwealth’s chief executive on issues like judicial nominations and pardons and also voting to approve or deny them once proposed.
“Judge Groce has been at the District Court for a number of years in various roles, and some of the things about him that I'm most excited to share are, he was a founding member of the Hamden County’s drug court and presided over it for many, many years, and the impact he's made on lives cannot be overstated," Jacobs continued. "And it just speaks to his character and why he has been a fantastic judge, but really is an exceptional candidate to move up to Superior Court. So, I'm really excited at his nomination. The attorney, Jeff Trapani, is equally exciting to me because he started in doing criminal side work but the bulk of his career has been focused on civil work, and that is a need in our in our court system here in Western Mass.”
A rare Berkshire County voice on the council and an outspoken advocate of regional equity, Jacobs wants to move quickly with the nominations in hand.
“Typically, when I have had Western Mass nominees, I have made a point to do a local hearing to give community members an opportunity to come and give testimony on behalf of, or in opposition – that hasn't happened yet, but it's a possibility – to our nominees," she explained. "I have suspended that practice for these two candidates in the interest of expediency. It is such an urgent need right now to fill these judicial positions in Western Mass that I didn't want to add any extra delay to the process. I've been pushing for expediency and I wanted to act with expediency myself.”
The council will consider the two nominations at its next meeting on April 30th, which will be livestreamed. Jacobs tells WAMC that she welcomes public input on the candidates via tara.j.jacobs@mass.gov.
“The following week, May 7th, we will hold our assembly at council where the confirmation vote will be held, and I am hopeful and confident that they will be both of them confirmed," she said. "And then the plan is to get them sworn in as quickly as possible thereafter, possibly even that day.”
Jacobs stresses that the work to fill multiple gaps in the Superior and District Courts of Western Mass is far from over.
“I'm still looking for expediency and urgency around two more nominees for Superior Court," she told WAMC. "On top of that, we have had a District Court opening in Northern and Southern Berkshire District Court for over a year now that we need to have filled urgently.”
Western Mass lawmakers are already looking ahead to the next regional equity battle.
“We also have to address the imbalance on the judicial nominating commission, right? We need to make sure there are Western Massachusetts people on that commission who can be internal to the process and sound the alarm when we have too many vacancies or have waited too long," said Comerford. “The fight for regional equity is everywhere all at once. I think that's what any legislator at the state serving our region, our four western counties, would say. Everywhere we look, there are inequities baked into funding formulas or grant programs, or just simply attitudes toward Western Massachusetts. I will say the Healey-Driscoll administration has done more than any other administration I've ever seen in addressing these inequities. But we need to go much, much further toward the kind of justice and fairness I believe the Healey-Driscoll administration would want.”
