Sheehan to Raimondo: Take a Stand on Principle, Put Person of Color on RI Supreme Court

Sheehan to Raimondo: Take a Stand on Principle, Put Person of Color on RI Supreme Court

Rhode Island State Senator James Sheehan is calling on Governor Gina Raimondo to appoint a person of color to the Rhode Island Supreme Court -- and in a letter sent to Raimondo this week, asked her to "take a stand on principle."

READ: Are Inside Politics Perverting Supreme Court Selection Process? Court Has Never Had Minority Justice

Sheehan recently argued that State Senator Erin Lynch Prata's revolving door argument is flawed, in seeking advice from the state ethics commission to pursue a seat on the Supreme Court. 

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Sheehan's Letter to Raimondo

Dear Governor Raimondo, 

There comes a time when it becomes necessary to take a stand on principle.  In so doing, one may have to disagree with his/her own leadership.  And, sadly one may also have to disagree with a fellow legislator whom he/she admires and respects.  

Both are the case for me regarding my objection to a fellow [sitting] senator’s seeking and possible appointment to a seat on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.  

Senator Erin Lynch Prata properly asked the state Ethics Commission whether her action would violate the revolving door laws and rules. Staff attorneys at the commission drafted a strongly-worded advisory opinion that by seeking or accepting this position without waiting a year Senator Lynch Prata would violate “revolving door” prohibitions enshrined in the state ethics laws. 

The Ethics Commission, ignoring the advice of its own counsel, voted to effectively bypass the “revolving door” prohibition that would require Senator Lynch Prata, an elected official, to wait one year before seeking or being appointed to a seat on the high court. This represents an egregious precedent that threatens the independence of the judiciary. 
 
Senate and House leadership have long had indirect input into the merit selection process of justices and judges by way of their nominated representatives on the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC).  However, the difference now is that legislative leadership may use their current position and commanding influence to push for the appointment to the Supreme Court of one of their own members or even themselves.  

This will lead to additional candidates wishing to be [and justices being] appointed based upon their proximity to power as opposed to the power of their legal minds.  This eventuality would prove consequential when you consider that the RI Supreme Court interprets the meaning of our state Constitution; decides matters of law and justice along with the scope of our individual freedoms.  This awesome responsibility of serving on the RI Supreme Court demands we appoint the best and brightest from a diverse pool of candidates, as opposed to frustrating these same people because they lack political clout.  

I respectfully request that you too take a stand on principle and defend the spirit and letter of our ethics laws that are intended to maximize merit over politics in the hiring of RI public servants.  Therefore, I would ask you not to appoint, if nominated, Senator Erin Lynch Prata, to fill the upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court at this time.  

Instead, I would encourage you to seize this opportunity to respond to the calls for social justice and equality by appointing a person of color (if nominated) to our state’s [all white] Supreme Court bench.  Such a bold and substantive move would restore a measure of faith in our system of justice for those who have been marginalized in our society, and demonstrate the government’s resolve to usher in the kind of change that Rhode Island needs to move forward.     

Thurgood Marshall, a grandson of a slave and the first African-American to sit on the United States Supreme Court, observed: 

“I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories…We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust…We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.”  

These words ring as true today as they did when they were first uttered nearly three decades ago.  They also remind us of the urgency to rededicate ourselves to building a better society.  

I would like to meet with you at your next earliest convenience to discuss this important matter.

I thank you.