According to a news advisory from the RI Judiciary, Justice Melissa A. Long was sworn in this afternoon as the first person of color on the Rhode Island Supreme Court. To read the remarks Justice Long made after being sworn in at the State House, please click here.
With the swearing in of Justice Long today and Justice Erin Lynch Prata on January 4, the Supreme Court now has a female majority for the first time in its history. The other three members of the Court are Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell, Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg and Justice William P. Robinson III.
Justices Long and Lynch Prata replaced Justice Francis X. Flaherty and Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia, respectively, who both retired in 2020.