RI Supreme Court Justice Goldberg Will Step Down

RI Supreme Court Justice Goldberg Will Step Down

Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg has informed Governor Dan McKee that she is stepping down from the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

This is likely to ripple a major shakeup in the highest court.

Presently, three high-profile Superior Court Judges are vying for the vacant Chief Justice’s position.

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Richard Licht, David Cruise, and Joseph Montalbano are all seeking to replace departed Alice Gibney.

 

BIO

Goldberg was born in Pawtucket, R.I., and grew up in a family of seven children in East Providence. Following her graduation from St. Mary Academy Bay View, she enrolled at Salve Regina University, then transferred to PC when it began accepting women as undergraduates in 1971. She studied secondary education-history, graduating cum laude in 1973. She then taught reading and social studies to third and fourth graders at Bishop McVinney Elementary School in Providence.

She left teaching to attend Suffolk University Law School, earning her Doctor of Law degree with honors in 1978. She worked as a prosecutor for R.I. Attorney General Dennis Roberts. In less than two years, she was one of two women appointed assistant attorney general, a first for the state. She later became an administrator in the criminal division. After her service in state government, she worked in private law practice. She served as town solicitor in South Kingstown and in Westerly, where she was also interim town manager, and as special counsel to the Rhode Island State Police. Gov. Edward D. DiPrete appointed her a justice in the Rhode Island Superior Court in 1990. In 1997, she was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Lincoln C. Almond, becoming the third woman to serve on that court. The state’s highest court, it consists of a chief justice and four associate justices, all of whom serve lifetime appointments.