Dot court’s Judge Georges to be nominated for Supreme Judicial Court

Serge Georges, Jr., a Dorchester native who currently sits as an associate justice at the Dorchester Division of Boston Municipal Court, will be nominated by Gov. Charlie Baker to join the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, according to the State House News Service.

Citing a source within the Baker administration, the news service said governor and Lt. Gov. Polito will introduce Georges and discuss his nomination during a State House press conference scheduled for 1 p.m. today.

The son of immigrants from Haiti, raised in Uphams Corner, George would will fill a vacancy on the seven-member body left when Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants died after a brief illness in September.

Georges is a graduate of Boston College High School, Boston College and Suffolk University School of Law. He is a former president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association and a professor at his alma mater, Suffolk. Georges practiced law privately until 2013 when he was appointed to the Boston Municipal Court by Gov. Deval Patrick. He lives in Randolph.

Sean Curran, who has known Judge Georges since they were both 14-year-old freshmen at BC High, said that the appointment is “a validation of his scholarship and his grounding in judicial procedure.”

“It speaks to the temperament that he has on the bench and the fact that he sees the dignity in the people coming before the district court with all of life’s problems,” said Curran. “He’s got tremendous empathy for the people who stand before him. And that sets him apart.”

Already, Baker has nominated Justice Kimberly Budd to step into the chief justice role and has tapped Appeals Court Judge Dalila Argaez Wendlandt to be elevated to the SJC bench. The latest flurry of nominations -- Baker made three SJC nominations in a similarly compressed time frame in 2016 -- came as Justice Barbara Lenk approaches the mandatory retirement age early next month and after the September death of Chief Justice Ralph Gants.

Gants and Lenk were the only two justices on the SJC not nominated to those positions by Baker, and now the second-term Republican is poised to have seven of his own selections sitting on the SJC.

The Governor's Council, which vets and confirms Baker's nominees, will hold a hearing on Wendlant's confirmation Wednesday morning and is also expected to vote on Budd's promotion to chief. The council could schedule a confirmation hearing for Georges when it meets Wednesday.

State House News Service reporting is included in this article.


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