The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized the Governor’s Council for its 5 to 3 vote to confirm the nomination of Judge Barbara A. Lenk to the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth. In announcing her appointment, Governor Deval Patrick identified her as the first openly lesbian Justice nominated to serve on the state’s highest court.
Judge Lenk was appointed to the Superior Court bench by Governor William Weld in 1993. In 1995, he elevated her to the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. Following the Goodridge decision, Judge Lenk entered into a civil marriage with her same sex partner.
The Catholic Action League said the Council’s vote was “driven by political correctness, for an appointment that was more about political symbolism than judicial merit.”
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “For the Patrick administration, judicial appointments seem to be more of a spoils system to reward interest groups than a search for judges who will respect the Constitution. Judge Lenk’s disturbing lack of candor when asked about judicial activism, her troubling record in the Boston domestic partners case — which raises questions about her impartiality — and her judicial philosophy, with its apparent disregard for original intent, all suggest that she will be an activist, left-wing ideologue on the bench, rather than a disinterested and fair-minded jurist. Judge Lenk’s opinion that the Goodridge decision is settled law, and her evident willingness to embrace the notion that judges have the authority to invent rights unheard of in Western history, indicate that she will be willing to legislate from the bench, and will demonstrate a lack of restraint regarding both the separation of powers and the constitutional limitations of her own office.”
League Executive Director C. J. Doyle testified in opposition to the Lenk nomination at the public hearing held by the Governor’s Council on April 27th. (Readers can see that testimony on video.) Massachusetts is one of only two states to retain a colonial era Governor’s Council.
