Peabody's Kimberly Budd Nominated As First Black MA Chief Justice

PEABODY, MA — A former Peabody High student is poised to make history in the state as the first Black chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts after Gov. Charlie Baker nominated Kimberly Budd to the position on Wednesday.

Budd, a Peabody native, will replace the late Ralph Gants, who died of complications from a heart attack in September.

Budd was confirmed unanimously to the Supreme Judicial Court as an associate justice in 2016 and now must be confirmed by the Governor's Council to take on her new role.

"The idea that I would be the first the first Black female chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court is a little overwhelming and very meaningful to me," she said at a Wednesday press conference. "But the idea of being a chief justice is a little more overwhelming to me, so I will work on that."

Budd said Gants was a "mentor and a friend to me" and that made the historic nomination "a little bittersweet."

Baker praised Budd for her diligence and her research in her writing and said those who serve with her repeatedly told him she "makes me want to be a better person."

"She is a great listener," Baker said, "and a great listener gives people a sense that their views, their opinions, that they matter."

Budd allowed she would be taking the lead at the state's highest court at a pivotal and complicated time.

"We're in the middle of a pandemic in the Commonwealth," she said. "People are in a panic. People are hurting. We have to make sure the judiciary is run as well as it can. That's what I'm focused on right now."

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