Maureen McKenna Goldberg

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Maureen McKenna Goldberg
Image of Maureen McKenna Goldberg

Nonpartisan

Rhode Island Supreme Court
Tenure

1997 - Present

Years in position

28

Prior offices
Rhode Island Superior Court

Compensation

Base salary

$230,343

Elections and appointments
Appointed

May 30, 1997

Education

Bachelor's

Providence College, 1973

Law

Suffolk University, 1978

Personal
Birthplace
Pawtucket, R.I.

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Maureen McKenna Goldberg is a judge of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. She assumed office in 1997.

Gov. Lincoln Almond (R) appointed Goldberg to a lifetime term on the court on May 30, 1997.[1][2] She served as the court's acting chief justice from 2008 to 2009.[3] To read more about judicial selection in Rhode Island, click here.

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[4] Goldberg received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[5] Click here to read more about this study.

Goldberg was a judge on the Rhode Island Superior Court from 1990 to 1997. Before her appointment, she was a town solicitor in South Kingstown and Westerly and served as an administrator in the Rhode Island Attorney General's office.[6]

Biography

Goldberg was born on February 11, 1951, in Pawtucket, R.I.[2] She received a bachelor's degree from Providence College in 1973 and a law degree from Suffolk University in 1978.[6] Goldberg also received honorary doctorates from both schools in 2009 and 1999, respectively.[3]

Goldberg began her legal career as a prosecutor in the Rhode Island Attorney General's office in 1978.[3][1] She worked in the office until 1984, eventually becoming the administrator of the office's criminal division.[1][3][6] After leaving the position, Goldberg entered private practice, where she worked until 1990.[3] During that time, she also served as the town solicitor in South Kingstown (1985-1987) and Westerly (1987-1990).[6]

Gov. Ed DiPrete (R) appointed Goldberg to the Rhode Island Superior Court in 1990.[7] She held that position until 1997 when Gov. Lincoln Almond (R) appointed her to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.[2] She served as the supreme court's acting chief justice from 2008 to 2009.[3]

Appointments

Rhode Island Supreme Court (1997-present)

Goldberg was appointed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court by Gov. Lincoln Almond (R) on May, 30 1997.[1][2] She served as the supreme court's acting chief justice from 2008 to 2009.[3]

Rhode Island Superior Court (1990-1997)

Goldberg was appointed to the Rhode Island Superior Court by Gov. Ed DiPrete (R) on July 9, 1990.[7]

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship and Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

Last updated: June 15, 2020

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.

The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[8]

The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:

  • Strong Democrat
  • Mild Democrat
  • Indeterminate[9]
  • Mild Republican
  • Strong Republican

This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.

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Maureen
McKenna Goldberg

Rhode Island

  • Partisan Confidence Score:
    Indeterminate
  • Judicial Selection Method:
    Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission
  • Key Factors:
    • Appointed by a Republican governor


Partisan Profile

Details:

McKenna Goldberg was appointed by Gov. Lincoln C. Almond (R).

Other Scores:

In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, McKenna Goldberg received a campaign finance score of -0.46, indicating a liberal ideological leaning.


Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)

See also: Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores of state supreme court justices, 2012

In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.

Goldberg received a campaign finance score of -0.46, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was less liberal than the average score of -0.50 that justices received in Rhode Island.

The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[10]

State supreme court judicial selection in Rhode Island

See also: Judicial selection in Rhode Island

The five justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court are appointed by the governor with help from a nominating commission made up of nine members. Supreme court nominees must then be approved by a majority vote of both the state House and the state Senate.[11] Justices serve for life or until they retire.

Qualifications

To serve on the Rhode Island Supreme Court, a judge must be:

  • an attorney;
  • licensed to practice law in the state; and
  • a member of the state bar in good standing.[11]

Chief justice

The chief justice is chosen the same way as other justices are when appointed to the court. Like other judges, the chief justice serves in that capacity for life.[11]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

Because Rhode Island judges serve for life or until they retire, the concept of a midterm vacancy has little relevance to the state's selection process. When a judge retires or passes away in office, the governor picks a nominee from a list from the judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by a majority vote in both chambers of the state legislature.[11]

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.


See also

Rhode Island Judicial Selection More Courts
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Courts in Rhode Island
Rhode Island Supreme Court
Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017
Gubernatorial appointments
Judicial selection in Rhode Island
Federal courts
State courts
Local courts

External links

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Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Rhode Island Judiciary, "About the Supreme Court," accessed July 23, 2021
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly, "Maureen McKenna Goldberg," accessed July 23, 2021
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Justia.com, "Maureen McKenna Goldberg," accessed July 23, 2021
  4. ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
  5. ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Rhode Island Secretary of State, "Maureen McKenna Goldberg," accessed July 23, 2021
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Office of Justice Programs, "1990 Annual Report of the Judiciary," accessed July 23, 2021
  8. ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
  9. ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
  10. ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Rhode Island," archived October 3, 2014


Rhode Island courts

Federal courts:

First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Rhode Island • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Rhode Island

State courts:

Rhode Island Supreme Court • Rhode Island Superior Court • Rhode Island District Court • Rhode Island Family Court • Rhode Island Workers' Compensation Court • Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal

State resources:

Courts in Rhode Island • Rhode Island judicial elections • Judicial selection in Rhode Island


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