Healey picks Solicitor Dewar for first open Supreme Judicial Court seat

Gov. Maura Healey nominated State Solicitor Elizabeth "Bessie" Dewar to the Supreme Judicial Court on Friday, the governor's first nomination to the state's highest court.

Dewar is nominated for the spot on the bench that Justice Elspeth Cypher is giving up when she retires on Jan. 12, 2024. Healey's Supreme Judicial Nominating Commission is continuing to accept applications for the seat that will be vacated when Justice David Lowy steps down in February. Dewar's nomination is subject to a hearing and confirmation vote of the Governor's Council.

Dewar served as acting attorney general between Healey's resignation from that office to be sworn in as governor on Jan. 5 and the Jan. 18 inauguration of Andrea Campbell, who won the 2022 election for AG. First Assistant Attorney General Kate Cook was in line to serve as acting AG, but Healey tapped her to be chief of staff in the governor's suite. Healey appointed Dewar as first assistant attorney general to replace Cook.

"Bessie Dewar is a consensus builder who has significant experience working with the Supreme Judicial Court and also a deep passion for the important work that the Court does. She is a true student of the institution, and I am confident that she is the right person to fill this seat in this pivotal moment for the Court,” Healey said in a statement.

According to her office, Healey named Dewar to serve as the state's second state solicitor in 2016. In that role, Dewar supervises the briefing and arguing of appeals by attorneys throughout the attorney general's office, advises the AG on exercising her authority to decide whether to appeal from adverse decisions, and leads the office's "friend of the court" amicus brief practice in state and federal courts.

Dewar previously worked as an appellate and trial-level lawyer at Ropes & Gray LLP, was a civil rights advocate at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, and served as a law clerk for Judge Stephen Breyer at the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge William Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals and the late U.S. District Court Judge Louis Pollak.

She is a graduate of Harvard College and the Yale Law School and has a master's degree from the University of Cambridge.