Richard N. Palmer (born May 27, 1950) is a former Associate Justice of the

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in ...

. Palmer was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. Palmer received his Bachelor of Arts

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

, from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Hartford in 1972. He went on to receive the Juris Doctor with high honors from the

University of Connecticut School of Law The University of Connecticut School of Law (UConn Law) is the law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. In ...

, in 1977. Following law school, Palmer clerked for Judge

Jon O. Newman Jon Ormond Newman (born May 2, 1932) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Education and legal training Born in New York City, New York, Newman earned his Artium Baccalaureus de ...

, then of the

United States District Court for the District of Connecticut The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeals ...

. After practicing privately with Shipman & Goodwin, Palmer was 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

U.S. Attorney's Office United States attorneys are officials of the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 United States federal judicial district, U.S. federal judici ...

for the District of Connecticut, interrupted briefly by a stint in the firm of Chatigny and Palmer. In 1991, Palmer served as the United States Attorney in Connecticut, and subsequently became Chief State's Attorney for the State of Connecticut. On March 17, 1993, he was sworn in as an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. On October 10, 2008, Palmer wrote the majority opinion for the Connecticut Supreme Court case ''

Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health ''Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health'', 289 Conn. 135, 957 A.2d 407, is a 2008 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court holding that allowing same-sex couples to form same-sex unions but not marriages violates the Connecticut Constitution. ...

'', granting marriage rights to same-sex couples in Connecticut, striking down a law passed in 2005 granting civil union rights to them. Palmer retired on May 27, 2020, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age.

References

1950 births Living people 21st-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni University of Connecticut School of Law alumni {{Connecticut-state-judge-stub