A ballot initiative that would raise the minimum wage for tipped workers and let employees pool tips cleared the state’s highest court, with justices concluding the petition’s language is just fine to put before voters.
Courts
Posted inCourts
Political Notebook: Judicial mischief | Incumbent stronghold | Home equity reckoning
“Chief Justice Gants has said that if he couldn’t have played for the Red Sox, being chief justice ultimately was a good second, solid choice,” Gov. Maura Healey said.
Posted inCourts
On 20th anniversary of same-sex marriage, here’s the story of how it almost did not happen
The story of how we stopped the “Defense of Marriage” amendment before the Goodridge ruling has never been fully told. And it’s a real banger of a tale.
Posted inOpinion
Lawmakers, do the right thing on civil legal aid
Recent investments from the state have helped legal aid organizations serve more people in need of assistance. These increased investments have led to fewer eligible people being turned away. Still, only about 50 percent of eligible applicants receive legal assistance.
Posted inCourts
Uber, Lyft say they aren’t transportation companies, liken themselves to travel agents
The latest leg in a multi-front worker classification fight kicked off in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday, with the start of Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s lawsuit against ride-share giants Uber and Lyft.
Posted inOpinion
It’s past time to move Bridgewater State Hospital out of the Department of Correction
THE REPORT RELEASED in March condemning Bridgewater State Hospital —Massachusetts’s state psychiatric facility — felt more like a broken record than a revelation. The 87-page document outlined issues that have […]
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: The Dan Rea primary | Satanists bedeviling Boston City Hall
Elizabeth Warren’s two Republican challengers go on the radio, while federal judges suggest Satanists bedeviling Boston City Hall might have a point.
Posted inBallot Questions
SJC appears open to letting tipped-worker question go to ballot
MULLING A CHALLENGE to a tipped-wage initiative proposed for the November ballot, justices of the Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday seemed skeptical of arguments that they should keep the measure […]
Posted inCourts
SJC ponders environmental justice, East Boston substation
A clarification has been added to this story. A PROPOSED ELECTRICITY substation in East Boston has become a test case for how much energy infrastructure an environmental justice community should […]
Posted inCourts
Is collecting your data the modern wiretap?
Could using AdTech software to monitor a public website visitor’s online actions amount to an illegal wiretap in Massachusetts?
Posted inCourts
Arguments in 7-Eleven franchise case ‘almost incomprehensible’
A case that has ping-ponged between state and federal courts considering whether 7-Eleven franchisees are independent contractors or employees under Massachusetts law left the SJC openly befuddled.
Posted inCourts
SJC gives life to complaints of Tufts tenured faculty
The Supreme Judicial Court partially overturned a lower court decision that Tufts University did not violate promises of academic freedom and economic security made to tenured professors, concluding that a group of professors whose salary and full-time status were reduced can sue the university.
Posted inCourts
Full SJC to hear Milton rezoning case
Justice Serge Georges Jr. said the case against Milton, which centers around how to enforce the MBTA Communities Act, “raises novel questions of law which are of public importance and which are time sensitive and likely to recur.”
Posted inCourts
On zoning law, Campbell seeks legal shot across the bow
Campbell wants to skip a trial in Superior Court and go straight to the SJC in May in an effort to establish clearly that Milton and other communities in the state are subject to the law and her office has the authority to enforce compliance.
Posted inHousing
A divided Milton heads into court
Milton seems unprepared, partly because of the fast-moving pace of legal action and mostly because town officials are as divided as the town they represent.
Posted inCourts
Unions launch pre-emptive strike against ride-share ballot questions
Massachusetts is Not For Sale, a coalition of labor organizations including the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, is arguing that the SJC should keep five different versions of the Big Tech-backed ballot initiative away from voters, claiming in a new brief that each petition “contains multiple unrelated policy choices” and “all the petitions appear designed to sow maximum voter confusion.”
Posted inCourts
SJC upholds Brookline’s phased tobacco ban
The retailers argued that the 2021 Brookline bylaw was pre-empted by a state law approved in 2018 that raised the minimum age for purchasing a tobacco product from 18 to 21. The retailers pointed out that the Brookline bylaw effectively means someone born after January 1, 2000 will not be able to purchase a tobacco product regardless of their age.
Posted inOpinion
Why we need more Parole Board members
The Massachusetts Parole Board, already stretched beyond its capacity to handle cases in a timely fashion, will soon have more because of a recent landmark Supreme Judicial Court ruling.
Posted inCourts
SJC asks, do you have to put down a dying dog?
The state animal cruelty statute, among other things, criminalizes an owner or person caring for an animal who unnecessarily fails to “provide it with proper food, drink, shelter, sanitary environment … or knowingly and willfully authorizes or permits it to be subjected to unnecessary torture, suffering, or cruelty of any kind.”
Posted inOpinion
Mass. on wrong track with child protection policy
In 2021, Massachusetts took children from their families at a rate 70 percent above the national average, when rates of child poverty are factored in.
Posted inCourts
Wolohojian confirmed on 6-1 vote
An Appeals Court jurist of 16 years and former partner at the firm now known as WilmerHale, Wolohojian’s nomination has drawn public scrutiny because of her past personal relationship with the governor. Healey and the judge shared a home in Charlestown for several years.
Posted inHousing
AG Campbell sues Milton over MBTA Communities law
Attorney General Andrea Campbell filed suit on Tuesday, asking the court to order that Milton has to comply with a sweeping state law requiring that communities within a certain distance of public transit rezone to allow for minimum amounts of multifamily construction as-of-right.
Posted inCourts
Healey’s former romantic partner poised to ascend to SJC
The Governor’s Council paid relatively little attention to Supreme Judicial Court nominee Gabrielle Wolohojian’s past romantic relationship with Gov. Maura Healey, focusing instead on artificial intelligence’s threat to the judiciary and a court case involving a dog named Peppermint.
Posted inOpinion
Why logic supports the merger of JetBlue, Spirit
The problem with the judge’s logical analysis is that it denies JetBlue and Spirit all the tools to take on the big boys. Together, Delta, American, Southwest, and United carry over three quarters of all US airline traffic, a share which gives them advantages that are difficult to match when it comes to both sales and operations.
