NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 2020
CONTACT: Ann S. Gooding, 401.228.4846 (c) 401.272.3367 (o)
STATEMENT BY JOSEPH M. MCNAMARA ON LANDMARK APPOINTMENTS
TO RI’S JUDICIARY BY GOVERNOR GINA RAIMONDO
WARWICK, R.I. – “It was a great and historic day for Rhode Island’s justice system and for the many women and minorities served by it, who will now– for the first time ever –be fully represented by justices on the benches of our state’s courts,” said Joseph M. McNamara, Chair of the Rhode Island Democratic Party Tuesday.
“Governor Gina Raimondo named outstanding nominees to our courts, including two women to the state’s highest court: Superior Court Judge Melissa Long – our first-ever, minority woman to the state Supreme Court, and Erin Lynch Prata – as a fellow woman nominee to that Court.
“The Governor also named our first Asian American candidate – Linda Rekas Sloan – to serve on the Rhode Island Superior Court; Elizabeth Ortiz – a first-generation Colombian-American to the Rhode Island Family Court; and two fellow, outstanding lawyers – Superior Court Magistrate Richard Raspallo to the Rhode Island Superior Court, and attorney and former Clerk to the state Supreme Court and Providence Housing Court Kevin Reall, to the state’s Workers’ Compensation Court.
“We applaud Governor Raimondo in her diverse and distinguished choice of candidates to the Rhode Island’s judicial bench, and wish them all the very best of luck in the days and months ahead,” McNamara said. The appointments will go before the state House of Representatives and Senate for approval.
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