Roderick L. Ireland

Roderick L. Ireland is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, and the first African American to serve that position. He was nominated for Chief Justice by Governor Deval Patrick on November 4, 2010,[1] and sworn in on December 20.[2] He retired from service on the court on July 25, 2014.[3]

Roderick L. Ireland
Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
In office
December 20, 2010 – July 25, 2014
Nominated byDeval Patrick
Preceded byMargaret H. Marshall
Succeeded byRalph Gants
Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
In office
1997 – December 19, 2010
Nominated byWilliam Weld
Succeeded byFernande R.V. Duffly
Personal details
Born (1944-12-03) December 3, 1944
Springfield, Massachusetts
Alma materLincoln University
Columbia Law School
Harvard Law School
Northeastern University

Personal life

Background

Ireland was born on December 3, 1944,[4] in Springfield, Massachusetts to Helen Garner Ireland,[5] an elementary school teacher from Spartanburg, South Carolina, and George Lovelace Ireland, a house painter from Springfield. He grew up on Terrence Street[6] in the Old Hill neighborhood, and attended Springfield public schools – The William N. DeBerry Elementary School, Buckingham Junior High School, and Classical High School.

Personal life

Ireland is married to Alice Alexander. The now adult children from their previous marriages are Elizabeth and Michael (Ireland's daughter and son), and Melanee (Alexander's daughter). Ireland is a member of the Elliot Congregational Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts.[7]

Education

Ireland received his B.A. from Lincoln University, the first degree-granting HBCU in the nation (1966); J.D. from Columbia Law School (1969); LL.M. from Harvard Law School (1975); and Ph.D. in Law, Policy and Society from Northeastern University (1998). [8]

Bar Admissions

Ireland was admitted to practice in New York State (1970), the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1971), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1971), and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (1971).

Roxbury Defenders Committee

In 1971, alongside Wallace Sherwood, Ireland formed the Roxbury Defenders Committee (also known as the Roxbury Defenders).[9] At the time, while the Massachusetts Defenders Committee did exist, Sherwood and Ireland felt there needed to be a site more local to Roxbury, a low income, black neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. However, as the committee was linked to the Massachusetts Defenders Committee, it received its funding from the same place: Massachusetts Committee for Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice.

In order to create more awareness of the services that they were offering, Sherwood and Ireland created the Legal Line, a weekly, one hour program on the radio station WILD, where they fielded questions from listeners as well as speaking on legal problems that arose during their proceedings.

Departure

Ireland left the Roxbury Defenders Committee in 1974.

Positions

In 1977, Ireland was nominated to the Boston Juvenile Court, and in 1990, to the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. He was appointed to both courts by Governor Michael Dukakis.

In 1997, he was appointed Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by Governor William Weld. He is the first African-American associate justice and also the first African-American chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He resigned from the high court in 2014, and was replaced by Associate Justice Ralph Gants.

Chief Justice Ireland has served on the faculty of both Northeastern University School of Law and Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University.

Honors

Renamings

In 2015, the city of Springfield, Massachusetts renamed the street Ireland grew up on, Terence Street, to Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland Way in honor of Ireland.{{|date=February 2018}}

In 2017, the Hampden County Hall of Justice was renamed the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse in honor of Ireland.

Honorary Degrees

Ireland has received honorary degrees from Excelsior College,[10] University of Massachusetts Boston [11]

Books

He is the author of Massachusetts Juvenile Law, a volume of the Massachusetts Practice Series.

References
  1. Boston Globe: Frank Phillips, "Patrick to name first African-American chief justice of SJC", November 4, 2010, accessed December 21, 2010
  2. WBUR: "Ireland Is Sworn In As SJC Chief Justice," December 20, 2010, accessed December 21, 2010
  3. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/06/13/gov-patrick-picks-black-woman-for-supreme-judicial-court-geraldine-hines-veteran-state-judge/4WpDayySbQaEIfMAj97nAI/story.html
  4. Today in Black History, 12/3/2014
  5. "Helen Garner Ireland's Obituary on The Republican". The Republican.
  6. "Springfield honors Justice Roderick Ireland with street name". WWLP.com. 30 June 2015.
  7. "Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland" (PDF). Museum of African American History.
  8. "Associate Justice Roderick L. Ireland". Mass.gov.
  9. Ireland, Roderick (June 2013). "Roxbury Defender's Committee: Reflections on the Early Years" (PDF). Massachusetts Law Review. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  10. "Honorary Degrees - Commencement - excelsior.edu". my.excelsior.edu.
  11. "Congressman Seth Moulton to Address UMass Boston Class of 2016".

12 Masslive: https://www.masslive.com/news/2015/06/springfield_to_honor_retired_c.html

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