Shekarchi will be one of five interviewed for RI Supreme Court opening

Former House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi has made the cut for a formal interview to join the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Following two-hours behind closed doors Tuesday, the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission chose five candidates, including Shekarchi, to be considered for the vacancy created by the March 27 retirement of Associate Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg.

Commission chair Zachary Mandell revealed the nine-member panel’s decision to interview every applicant upon return to open session.

“By a unanimous vote, all five applicants received interviews,” Mandell said.

Other candidates for the $228,325-a-year position include Luis Matos, a Rhode Island Superior Court judge; Christopher Bush, an assistant attorney general; Laureen D’Ambra, a Family Court judge; and John E. Roberts, an attorney who is a partner with the Boston firm Proskauer Rose LLC.

Yes, Shekarchi is stepping down as speaker. He has now applied for open Supreme Court seat.

Roberts was previously on the 2020 shortlist for the Supreme Court seat now occupied by Erin Lynch Prata. D’Ambra was among the commission’s recommendations in 2020 to fill the seat now held by Melissa Long.

Each candidate will be formally interviewed by the commission on July 28. Afterward, the commission must forward a list of three to five of their top picks to the governor, who will then pick one of those finalists as the nominee for the lifetime position. 

Appointees to the state’s Supreme Court must be approved by members of both the state Senate and House.

Also Tuesday, the Judicial Nominating Commission selected nine candidates to interview for the Superior Court vacancy created by Judge Joseph Montalbano’s elevation to presiding justice. A total of 22 applicants applied for the position, Mandell said.

Superior Court interviews will be held July 29.

Shekarchi stepped down as speaker May 7, the same day applications were due to the commission to be considered for the lifetime appointment. He still remains a member of the House of Representatives, but pledged not to participate in political activity tied to the upcoming election cycle, including endorsing candidates.

Still, Shekarchi’s decision to seek a spot on the judiciary has raised eyebrows among some good-government watchdogs over whether his potential move to the bench could violate the state’s revolving door restrictions prohibiting sitting legislators from seeking or accepting employment with another government agency until they’re out of office for a year.

That ethical concern is why former Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director H. Philip West Jr. attended the Judicial Nominating Commission’s meeting, where he handed Mandell a letter detailing why the former speaker should be ineligible for the Supreme Court seat.

“If he were eligible to seek a seat on the Supreme Court, I would testify in support of his candidacy,” West wrote. “But after advocating for and defending Rhode Island’s revolving door prohibitions during 18 years with Common Cause, I have no doubt he is ineligible.”

Shekarchi now faces a potential ethics probe after a complaint was filed with the state’s Ethics Commission as he gave his farewell speech from the speaker’s rostrum. The former House speaker Democrat feels it is unnecessary since the position as a constitutional office that’s not subject to the prohibition.

The ethics complaint is expected to go before the Ethics Commission for an initial review June 2.