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Duffly, Mass. SJC's First Asian-American Member, Announces Retirement

Justice Fernande "Nan" Duffly is sworn in by Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick in Boston on Feb. 17, 2011. (Elise Amendola/AP)
Justice Fernande "Nan" Duffly is sworn in by Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick in Boston on Feb. 17, 2011. (Elise Amendola/AP)

For the third time in a week, a justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has announced plans to retire before the next full session of the court begins.

Justice Fernande Duffly, who was appointed to the high court by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2011, will retire from the bench July 12, the court announced Wednesday.

Before Patrick nominated Duffly to sit on the SJC, she served as a judge in the Probate and Family Court, and the Appeals Court. In a statement, Duffly said she had been planning to retire next year, but expedited her plans to help care for her husband.

"It has been a privilege to serve as a jurist in the Trial Court, the Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court. My years on the bench confirm for me that broad and diverse perspectives make an enormous contribution to the decision making process," Duffly said in the statement. "I had planned to leave the bench after serving for 25 years as a judge in 2017. When my husband’s recent surgery required me to devote more of my time to helping him fully recover, I moved up my retirement date."

At 66 years old, Duffly would not have had to retire until December 2019, when she will turn 70. Last week, justices Robert Cordy and Francis Spina announced they intend to retire this summer.

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