Melissa Austin Long (born 1970 or 1971) is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the

Rhode Island Supreme Court The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial No ...

since 2021. She previously served as an associate justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court from 2017 to 2021.

Education and legal career

Long received a

Bachelor of Arts 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 years ...

from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

in 1992 and her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

George Mason University School of Law The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., and ...

in 1995. After law school, she served as

contract attorney A contract attorney is a lawyer who works on legal cases on a contract basis. Such work is generally of a temporary nature, often with no guaranteed employment term. A contract attorney is Civil litigation The work of contract attorneys ofte ...

in the

Public Defenders A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

office representing indigent parents in terminations of

parental rights A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male ...

cases. Long also served in a variety of roles at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, including Senior Legal Counsel and Title VI Coordinator. Long served as Deputy Secretary of State and Director of Administration within the office of the Secretary of State of Rhode Island.

State court service

Rhode Island Superior Court

On June 27, 2017,

Rhode Island Governor The governor of Rhode Island is the head of government of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and serves as commander-in-chief of the state's Army National Guard and Air National Guard. The current governor is Democrat Dan McKee. In their capacity ...

Gina Raimondo appointed Long to be an associate justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Judge Patricia A. Hurst. On September 19, 2017, her nomination was approved in the Rhode Island Senate. She was sworn in by Governor Raimondo on October 12, 2017.

Rhode Island Supreme Court

Long was one of six final candidates being considered for a vacancy on the

. On December 8, 2020, Long was nominated by Governor Raimondo to be an associate justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, replacing Justice Francis Flaherty, who retired on December 31, 2020. On December 18, 2020, her nomination was confirmed by the Rhode Island Senate. With her confirmation, Long became the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

on the court. Since the confirmation of Long and

Erin Lynch Prata Erin Patricia Lynch Prata (born May 17, 1975 in Warwick, Rhode Island) is an American politician and an Associate Justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court. She previously served in the Rhode Island Senate representing District 31 since January ...

, the five-member court has a female majority for the first time in its history. She was sworn into office on January 11, 2021.

References

External links

* 1970s births Year of birth uncertain Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers African-American judges Antonin Scalia Law School alumni Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Rhode Island lawyers Rhode Island state court judges Superior court judges in the United States University of Virginia alumni 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American women judges 20th-century African-American lawyers 21st-century African-American lawyers {{US-law-bio-stub