Jeffrey L. Amestoy (born July 24, 1946) is an American retired jurist from

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. He served as

Vermont Attorney General The Vermont Attorney General is a statewide elected executive official in the U.S. state of Vermont who is elected every two years. It was created by an act of the Vermont General Assembly in 1790, repealed in 1797, and revived in 1904. The office ...

from 1985 to 1997 and as chief justice of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The Court ...

from 1997 to 2004. Amestoy is noted for having authored the majority opinion in '' Baker v. Vermont'', the 1999 Vermont Supreme Court decision that led to the legalization of civil unions for same-sex partners in Vermont in 2000.

Early life and education

Jeffrey Amestoy was born in

Rutland, Vermont Rutland, Vermont may refer to: *Rutland (city), Vermont * Rutland (town), Vermont *Rutland County, Vermont *West Rutland, Vermont West Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. The t ...

. He has

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

ancestry on his father's side. He received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from Hobart College in

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...

, his J.D. from

Hastings Law School The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a public law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the first law school of the University of California as ...

at the University of California, and his Master of Public Administration degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He served in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...

from 1968 to 1974.

Legal career

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, Amestoy served as counsel to the Governor of Vermont’s Commission on the Administration of Justice from 1974 to 1976. He went on to become an assistant attorney general, a chief prosecutor of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Division, and a commissioner of labor and industry. In 1984, Amestoy ran successfully for Vermont Attorney General, defeating state Representative Bruce M. Lawlor in the general election. He served as attorney general from 1985 to 1997.

Vermont Supreme Court

Following the retirement of Frederic W. Allen, Governor

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009 ...

appointed Amestoy to serve as chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. Amestoy was succeeded as Attorney General by William Sorrell. As chief justice, Amestoy authored the opinion of the Vermont Supreme Court in '' Baker v. Vermont'', 744 A.2d 864 (Vt. 1999), which held that the state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples violated the

Vermont Constitution The Constitution of the State of Vermont is the fundamental body of law of the U.S. state of Vermont, describing and framing its government. It was adopted in 1793 following Vermont's admission to the Union in 1791 and is largely based upon the ...

. The court ordered the

Vermont legislature The Vermont General Assembly is the legislative body of the state of Vermont, in the United States. The Legislature is formally known as the "General Assembly," but the style of "Legislature" is commonly used, including by the body itself. The G ...

to either allow same-sex marriages or implement an alternative legal mechanism according similar rights to same-sex couples. On April 27, 2000, Gov. Howard Dean signed legislation making Vermont the first U.S. state to allow same-sex civil unions.

Later career

Amestoy retired from the court on June 16, 2004, and was succeeded as chief justice by Paul L. Reiber. After his retirement, Amestoy returned to Harvard as a Fellow at the Institute of Politics and at the

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

's Center for Public Leadership. Amestoy is the author of ''Slavish Shore: The Odyssey of Richard Henry Dana Jr.'' (Harvard University Press, 2015). His article entitled "The Supreme Court Argument that Saved the Union: Richard Henry Dana Jr. and the Prize Cases" (Journal of Supreme Court History 2010) was awarded the Supreme Court Historical Society's Hughes-Gossett Prize.

Personal life

Amestoy and his wife, Susan, have three daughters, Katie, Christina, and Nancy.

References