Kimberly S. Budd (born October 23, 1966) is the chief justice of the

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functi ...

and former justice of the

Massachusetts Superior Court The Massachusetts Superior Court (also known as the Superior Court Department of the Trial Court) is a trial court department in Massachusetts. The Superior Court has original jurisdiction in civil actions over $50,000, and in matters where equita ...

Early life, education and legal career

Kimberly S. Budd was born on October 23,1966 to former

U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was held ...

Wayne Budd Wayne Budd (born November 18, 1941 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is senior counsel at Goodwin Procter, in the firm's Litigation Department, where he specializes in advising clients on business and commercial litigation matters. Past senior exec ...

. Budd primarily grew up in

Peabody, Massachusetts Peabody () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 54,481 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. Peabody is located in the North Shore region of Massachusetts, and is known for its rich industrial histo ...

. She attended

Peabody Veterans Memorial High School Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (PVMHS), also known as Peabody High School, is a comprehensive and competitive public high school in Peabody, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only comprehensive public high school in the Peabody Schoo ...

, but graduated high school in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

after her family moved before the start of her senior year in 1983. Budd received a bachelor's degree in English from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, graduating magna cum laude in 1988, and a J.D. degree from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1991. She began her legal career as a law clerk to Chief Justice Joseph P. Warner of the

Massachusetts Appeals Court The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, the same ...

in 1991. She was a litigation associate at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo before serving as an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

in the United States Attorney's Office for the

District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was hel ...

. After that, she was a university attorney for Harvard University in the General Counsel's Office. She later served as Director of the Community Values program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

Judicial career

Budd was previously an Associate Justice for the

. She was nominated to the court by Governor

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...

in July 2009 and began active service in September 2009. She was nominated to the seat formerly held by Ralph D. Gants.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

She was nominated to the court by Governor

Charlie Baker Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massach ...

on June 14, 2016, and confirmed by the

Governor's Council The governments of the Thirteen Colonies of British America developed in the 17th and 18th centuries under the influence of the Constitution of the United Kingdom, British constitution. After the Thirteen Colonies had become the United States, the e ...

on August 10, 2016. She assumed office on August 24, 2016 and was ceremonially sworn in on November 21, 2016. In May 2017, Budd wrote for the unanimous court when it found that the federal

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

required the Massachusetts

parole board A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdiction ...

to make

reasonable accommodation A reasonable accommodation is an adjustment made in a system to accommodate or make fair the same system for an individual based on a proven need. That need can vary. Accommodations can be religious, physical, mental or emotional, academic, physic ...

s when considering whether to grant

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

to a murderer with

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...

. On October 28, 2020, Governor Charlie Baker nominated Justice Budd to assume the role of Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. Justice Budd has been nominated to fill the Chief Justice vacancy after the death of former Chief Justice Justice Ralph Gants in September 2020. On November 18, 2020, she was unanimously confirmed by the Governor's Council. Budd became the first female, African-American Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upon her swearing in.

Teaching

Budd teaches in MCLE and Bar Association programs, is a former adjunct instructor at New England Law, and has taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School.

Personal life

She is married with two sons. Her father is

currently senior counsel at

Goodwin Procter Goodwin Procter LLP is a global law firm. It is one of the largest law firms in the world as measured by revenue and consists of more than 1,800 lawyers across offices in Boston, Cambridge, Frankfurt, Munich, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Luxemb ...

and a former

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

References

External links

Official Biography on Supreme Court website
*
Supreme Judicial Court Oral Argument Archive
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Budd, Kimberly S. 1966 births Living people 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges African-American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Chief Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Georgetown College (Georgetown University) alumni Harvard Law School alumni Harvard Law School faculty Massachusetts lawyers Massachusetts Superior Court justices Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court New England Law Boston faculty Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States American women legal scholars American legal scholars American women academics 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people