Gov. Dan McKee has picked Superior Court Judge Luis M. Matos for the Supreme Court opening that former House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi sought but lost amid controversy over the legality of any legislator leap-frogging the one-year waiting period in the state's revolving door" law.
If confirmed by the House and Senate, Matos would replace retired Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg, who had been one of the three women on the state's five-member Supreme Court.
The state's Judicial Nominating Commission sent five names to the governor for consideration: Shekarchi, Assistant Attorney General Christopher R. Bush, Family Court Judge Laureen D'Ambra, Matos and appellate litigator John E. Roberts.
McKee, trailing in the polls by as much as 20 percentage points in his reelection race, according to the latest polls, announced his choice hours ahead of his first TV debate this election year with his Democratic primary challenger Helena Foulkes, after a contentious clash on radio last week.
All eyes were on Shekarchi, who in May resigned what has been called the most powerful political position in the state – House speaker – to seek the high court opening.
Critics, including H. Philip West Jr., who led Common Cause Rhode Island for more than a decade, said that Shekarchi's quest for a Supreme Court seat without waiting a year under the state's revolving door law ran counter to the merit-based judicial selection process overwhelmingly approved by Rhode Islanders in 1994. West suggested that Shekarchi and McKee had agreed "privately" that Shekarchi would be named to the bench if he dropped out of the Democratic race for governor.
Shekarchi – who also faced an ethics complaint – forcefully denied West's statement. "I have no special arrangement with the governor. … I have never discussed Justice Goldberg's seat with the governor," he said.
But Superior Court Judge Richard Licht upheld the argument that current Justice – and former senator – Erin Lynch Prata raised in 2020, that legislators do not have to wait until they have been out of office a year to apply because a Supreme Court seat is a "constitutional office."
More specifically, Licht accepted Shekarchi's argument that applying the revolving door law's one-year waiting period to seek Supreme Court appointments would violate the state constitution, which reserves appointment authority to the governor.
"Mr. Shekarchi seeks a constitutional office which is appointed by the governor pursuant to a constitutionally mandated process and thus his pursuit of this office, pursuant to the separation of powers and supremacy clause doctrines embedded in our constitution, cannot be impeded by any statute or regulation," Licht wrote.
The case wound its way to Licht's docket after the Rhode Island Ethics Commission rejected Shekarchi's bid to dismiss the complaint, filed against him by Roger Williams University Law professor Michael Yelnosky for attempting to bypass the revolving door law.
The Ethis Commission filed notice of appeal of Licht's ruling on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Matos was first named to the bench in 2012 by Gov. Lincoln Chafee. He has presided over all the court calendars in that capacity, from trial to daily criminal to special cause.He brought with him 12 years as a federal prosecutor in Rhode Island, where he primarily focused on health care fraud, food and drug violations, white-collar crime and public corruption cases, according to his résumé. Throughout his tenure, he assumed supervisory roles, including chief of the civil and criminal divisions, first assistant U.S. Attorney and Acting U.S. Attorney.
He holds a juris doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law and an undergraduate degree from Brown University.
During his JNC interview, Matos said that his career path was well-tailored for serving on the state's high court. He approaches each case with empathy while taking all the parties into consideration, he said. He spoke of his immigrant roots, arriving from Portugal at age 5 and becoming the first member of his family to graduate from college.
He stressed, too, his work with the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts in forgiving court debt for justice-involved individuals."We removed a burden from the shoulders of people," he said, noting that he had remitted some $1.2 million in court debt so people could concentrate on other areas in their lives free of that debt. "I've always endeavored to build trust in our institutions," Matos said.
Reporters Patrick Anderson and Katie Mulvaney contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: McKee picks new Supreme Court justice for lifetime seat