Massachusetts governor nominates a judge and former romantic partner to the state’s highest court

BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday nominated an appeals court judge and former romantic partner, with whom she shared a home for several years, to an open seat on the state’s highest court.

Massachusetts Appeals Court Associate Justice Gabrielle R. Wolohojian would serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court if her nomination is approved. Wolohojian is Healey’s second nomination to the state’s highest court.

“There is no one more qualified or better prepared to serve on the Supreme Judicial Court than Justice Wolohojian. She will bring over three decades of broad trial and appellate experience, including sixteen years on the Appeals Court,” Healey said in a press release.

“Justice Wolohojian has served on the Appeals Court with distinction and her work is widely respected by members of the bench and bar. She has an exceptional understanding of the law and a strong commitment to the administration of justice,” Healey added.

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Wolohojian, 63, would fill the seat vacated by Justice David Lowy. Last year Healey nominated then-state solicitor Elizabeth Dewar to the high court.

Wolohojian was appointed to the Appeals Court in February 2008 and has authored more than 900 decisions, according to Healey’s office. She has also served as the chair of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Healey and Wolohojian, who met when they both worked at the Boston law firm of Hale & Dorr, had been together for eight years when Healey began her first term as attorney general in 2015, according to a Boston Magazine profile.

Wolohojian and Healey had lived together in a rowhouse in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston that also served as a campaign headquarters for Healey. Wolohojian did not play a public role in the campaign. The governor now lives with her current partner, Joanna Lydgate, in Arlington.

Healey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment from the governor but said she would address reporters later Wednesday.

Wolohojian must go before the eight-member Governor’s Council charged with reviewing and approving judicial nominations.

The Supreme Judicial Court is Massachusetts’s highest appellate court. The seven justices hear appeals on a range of criminal and civil cases.

Born in New York, and the granddaughter of Armenian immigrants, Justice Wolohojian received a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Rutgers University in 1982; a doctorate in English language and literature from the University of Oxford in 1987; and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1989.

Healey’s office also described Wolohojian as an accomplished violinist, who regularly performs with orchestras, including the Boston Civic Symphony orchestra.