GOP Criticize Lynch Prata for Trying to Circumvent Revolving Door Law for Supreme Court Seat

GOP Criticize Lynch Prata for Trying to Circumvent Revolving Door Law for Supreme Court Seat

On Wednesday, the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) accepted public comment on filling a vacancy on the Rhode Island Supreme Court and Senator Erin Lynch Prata's candidacy drew fire for circumventing state law that bars legislators from taking judgeships for one year. 

Minority leaders have called on Governor Gina Raimondo to appoint a minority to the high court, as Rhode Island's Supreme Court has never had a minority of the court. Raimondo is a close political ally of Lynch Prata and the two are close friends. Raimondo, despite her pledges to address issues of systemic racism in Rhode Island, has refused to appoint a minority to the court.

This is the first vacancy on the Supreme Court in a decade.

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GOP, Common Cause Raise Concerns

Lynch Prata's candidacy has come under fire from good-government groups who criticize her not adhering to the revolving door law. 

Rhode Island Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Cienki criticized the attempt to put Lynch Prata on the high court.

“A generation ago, after various scandals involving judges who went directly from the legislature to the bench, Rhode Island created the JNC and a judicial merit selection process," said Cienki. "The JNC needs to do its job here, and keep state house politics out of the selection of judges."

"The JNC should not recommend Senator Lynch Prata to the Supreme Court. While other individuals seeking this appointment to our highest court have judicial experience and/or stellar credentials, we all know that Senator Lynch Prata’s primary qualification for the job is simply her statehouse political connections. Recommending Lynch Prata would show that the JNC is influenced more by politics, than merits, in selecting judges,” she added.

Cienki continued: “Not only would the JNC’s recommendation of Senator Lynch Prata undermine the credibility of the judicial merit selection process, it would make the JNC an accessory to unethical behavior. The revolving door ban was created to prevent legislators from being able to use the power of their office to get themselves a judgeship. Recommending Lynch Prata would show that the JNC just doesn’t care about ethics when it comes to selecting judges.” 

Rhode Island Republican National Committeeman Steven Frias said, “Rhode Island cannot move forward by going backward on ethics.”’ 

In June, John Marion, Executive Director of Rhode Island Common Cause, appeared on GoLocal LIVE where he raised concerns about the Ethics Commission voting to overrule their own staff’s recommendation which cleared the way for Lynch Prata to move forward with her candidacy for a seat on the Supreme Court.

“99 times out of 100 [the Ethics Commission] takes that legal advice from the staff and they adopt it what happened. Yesterday the staff gave a legal recommendation that Senator Lynch Prata is subject to the revolving door prohibition meaning she can't apply —  it would be illegal for her to apply and they did not accept the staff's advice, as they voted it down five to two,” said Marion.

The stakes are high to fill the much sought after vacancy on the Court, which was created when Justice Gilbert Indeglia announced his retirement from the court in January.