Governor's Council Confirms Budd, Baker's Third SJC Nominee

The Governor's Council on Wednesday unanimously confirmed Kimberly Budd to a seat on the Supreme Judicial Court bench, the third nominee of Gov. Charlie Baker's to be approved in recent weeks, after multiple judicial retirements at the state's highest court.

A Gov. Deval Patrick appointee who has served as a Superior Court justice since 2009, Budd is currently a regional administrative justice responsible for overseeing the administration and management of the criminal business in Middlesex County.

Her "qualifications, temperament and confirmation," Baker said in a statement, "will ensure the Supreme Judicial Court is at full strength when they return for their first sitting in September."

Budd's confirmation comes after a Republican state representative said Budd's "ideological statements" about driver's licenses for unauthorized immigrants make her "unfit to serve as a justice."

"Her record is this: She has been a law and order judge on the Superior Court, and she will continue to be a law and order judge on the Supreme Judicial Court," Republican Councilor Jennie Caissie said at the confirmation on Wednesday.

The vote on Budd follows the council's unanimous confirmations of Judges Frank Gaziano and David Lowy, whose nominations Baker announced with Budd's in June.

With reporting by State House News Service's Katie Lannan and the WBUR Newsroom