Roderick L. Ireland

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Roderick L. Ireland (born December 3, 1944) is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, and the first African American to serve that position. He was nominated for Chief Justice by Governor Deval Patrick on November 4, 2010,^[1] and sworn in on December 20.^[2] He retired from service on the court on July 25, 2014.^[3]

Personal life[]

Background[]

Ireland was born on December 3, 1944,^[4] in Springfield, Massachusetts to Helen Garner Ireland,^[5] an elementary school teacher from Spartanburg, South Carolina, and George Lovelace Ireland, a house painter from Springfield. He grew up on Terrence Street^[6] in the Old Hill neighborhood, and attended Springfield public schools – The William N. DeBerry Elementary School, Buckingham Junior High School, and Classical High School.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[]

Ireland is married to Alice Alexander. The now adult children from their previous marriages are Elizabeth and Michael (Ireland's daughter and son), and Melanee (Alexander's daughter). Ireland is a member of the Elliot Congregational Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts.^[7]

Education[]

Ireland received his B.A. from Lincoln University, the first degree-granting HBCU in the nation (1966); J.D. from Columbia Law School (1969); LL.M. from Harvard Law School (1975); and Ph.D. in Law, Policy and Society from Northeastern University (1998).^[8]

Bar Admissions[]

Ireland was admitted to practice in New York State (1970), the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1971), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1971), and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (1971).^{[citation needed]}

Roxbury Defenders Committee[]

In 1971, alongside Wallace Sherwood, Ireland formed the Roxbury Defenders Committee (also known as the Roxbury Defenders).^[9] At the time, while the Massachusetts Defenders Committee did exist, Sherwood and Ireland felt there needed to be a site more local to Roxbury, a low income, black neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. However, as the committee was linked to the Massachusetts Defenders Committee, it received its funding from the same place: Massachusetts Committee for Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice.^{[citation needed]}

The Legal Line[]

In order to create more awareness of the services that they were offering, Sherwood and Ireland created the Legal Line, a weekly, one hour program on the radio station WILD, where they fielded questions from listeners as well as speaking on legal problems that arose during their proceedings.^{[citation needed]}

Departure[]

Ireland left the Roxbury Defenders Committee in 1974.

Positions[]

In 1977, Ireland was nominated to the Boston Juvenile Court, and in 1990, to the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. He was appointed to both courts by Governor Michael Dukakis.

In 1997, he was appointed Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by Governor William Weld. He is the first African-American associate justice and also the first African-American chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He resigned from the high court in 2014, and was replaced by Associate Justice Ralph Gants.

Chief Justice Ireland has served on the faculty of both Northeastern University School of Law and Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University.

Honors[]

Renamings[]

In 2015, the city of Springfield, Massachusetts renamed the street Ireland grew up on, Terence Street, to Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland Way in honor of Ireland.

In 2017, the Hampden County Hall of Justice was renamed the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse in honor of Ireland.

Honorary Degrees[]

Ireland has received honorary degrees from Excelsior College,^[10] University of Massachusetts Boston^[11]

Books[]

He is the author of Massachusetts Juvenile Law, a volume of the Massachusetts Practice Series.

See also[]

• List of African-American jurists

References[]

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