State Rep. Leonard Mirra admits he doesn’t know much about Essex County Probate Court Associate Justice Abbe L. Ross. But that unfamiliarity did not keep the Georgetown legislator from filing a bill calling for Ross, who is assigned to Probate Court in Salem, to be removed from her job.
Mirra filed the legislation on behalf of a Groveland man who claimed Ross demonstrated bias against him during his 2018 divorce. Mirra claims he received 12 calls in support of Ross’ removal after he filed his bill. A petition in support of Ross’ removal reportedly garnered 339 signatures as of last Friday.
But petitions and legislation filed on behalf of disgruntled constituents is not the way judicial oversight is conducted in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The judiciary, the executive branch, and the state Legislature have distinctive, carefully subscribed roles that do not overlap. The governor does not craft laws — that’s the Legislature’s job. Legislators don’t remove judges from the bench because unhappy constituents ask them to do so.
Massachusetts has a Commission on Judicial Conduct and a Committee on Judicial Ethics charged with judicial review.
Mirra’s comment: “I don’t know much about this particular judge, but I do think we need to do a better job holding our judges accountable,” suggests he is unaware of the existence of these two oversight bodies.
Dispensing justice is an unenviable job tasked to judges who almost always leave unhappy people in the wake of their decisions. Mirra’s constituent Walter Sorenson appealed Ross’ ruling on his divorce case to the Massachusetts Court of Appeals, which came back with a mixed decision on Ross’ review. Sorenson has since been assigned a new judge to review his divorce proceedings.
If state Rep. Mirra truly believes the Probate Court review process is plagued by judicial bias, we suggest he work with the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary to research Probate reviews; hold hearings allowing litigants, attorneys and justices like Ross to testify; and then do the hard work of crafting legislation laying out proposed reforms.
Legislators are tasked with making laws. Let’s leave the job of passing judgment to judges.
