THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Monday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the statewide mask mandate, agreeing with state and local officials that the case is moot because the mandate has been lifted. The case centers on Arianna Murrell, the owner of a Lynn tax preparation business, Liberty Tax Service, who banned the wearing of masks inside […]
Supreme Judicial Court
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC says Springfield mayor’s powers on policing have limits
SPRINGFIELD MAY BE one of the Massachusetts cities with a “strong mayor” form of government, but the mayor’s extensive powers over city government are not unlimited powers. That was the clear message in a Supreme Judicial Court ruling issued on Tuesday that represented a strong rebuke to Mayor Domenic Sarno, who had claimed unilateral power […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Can sheriffs collect lucrative commissions from inmate phone calls?
FOR YEARS, Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson’s office collected hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in telephone fees paid by family members, attorneys, and others who received calls from county jail inmates. Similar structures are set up across the state’s county jail system, and advocates for prisoners have long been trying to get the Legislature to curb […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
SJC upholds $21m verdict against Phillip Morris
MASSACHUSETTS” HIGHEST COURT on Wednesday upheld a $21 million jury verdict that cigarette company Phillip Morris will have to pay the family of a Lynn man who died from smoking-related illness. The ruling could potentially smooth the way for other wrongful death lawsuits from families of smokers, some of which are already being litigated in […]
Posted inEconomy
SJC upholds ban on car-sharing service Turo at Logan Airport
THE CAR-SHARING platform Turo will continue to be banned from listing cars for rent at Logan Airport, under a Supreme Judicial Court decision released Wednesday. Turo is a private company that operates a website where car owners can offer their cars to renters, a platform for cars that is similar to Airbnb for homes. The Massachusetts Port Authority […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
History suggests SJC rulings will improve policing
IF HISTORY IS a guide, three unanimous Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rulings on race and police practices issued last week will make policing more effective and more just. In one, the SJC broadened the circumstances in which a black motorist may argue that racial profiling by police led to a traffic stop. The ruling states, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Virus notes: Baker questions antibody testing accuracy, utility
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER threw up a caution flag on Monday on the rush test people for coronavirus antibodies. Along with urgent efforts to expand testing for the coronavirus, public health officials have begun testing people for antibodies to the virus, blood markers that indicate a past infection with the virus. A big part of the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC rules against district court judge in indigent defense case
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ruled that a Springfield judge overstepped his authority in ordering the overburdened local public defenders’ office to take on more cases than the office said it could handle, but the justices deferred to the Legislature when it came to solving the problem of a chronic shortage of lawyers for poor defendants. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
In indigent defense case, precedent for strong SJC action
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, in Lavallee v. Justices in the Hampden Superior Court, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court addressed the shortage of attorneys available to represent indigent criminal defendants in Hampden County, which resulted in persistent denial of the right to counsel under the state and federal constitutions. The cause of the shortage was no mystery: […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC faces tricky constitutional challenge in indigent defense case
THE STATE’S HIGHEST COURT is wrestling with a case centered on how to guarantee a fundamental constitutional right of the judicial system — the right of criminal defendants, even those too poor to hire a lawyer, to be represented by an attorney. But both sides in the case, as well as the SJC justices who […]