Rhode Island House Speaker Joe Shekarchi is expected to announce during a meeting of the House of Representatives Thursday that he is applying for a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.
Shekarchi, a 63-year-old lawyer, has led the House since 2021, taking on the powerful post of speaker during the pandemic and raising the state’s focus on housing through a series of bills.
The Warwick Democrat has avoided public comment in recent weeks on his potential interest in joining the Supreme Court, but his social media has highlighted, for example, an op-ed in which Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera wrote that “he would make an outstanding justice.”
House Majority Leader Christopher Blazejewski said Wednesday he was making plans for Shekarchi to end his time as speaker.
“The Speaker has informed me of his decision,” Blazejewski said in a statement. “Based upon that, I’m honored and deeply grateful to have secured the overwhelming commitments of my House colleagues to succeed him as Speaker, and for Rep. Katherine Kazarian to serve as Majority Leader.”
It is not yet clear if Shekarchi plans to resign his seat in the legislature or merely leave his role as speaker.
The deadline to apply for the post through the state Judicial Nominating Commission is Thursday. Then, the nominating commission has 90 days to submit the names of three to five finalists to Gov. Dan McKee. The governor then has 21 days to make his nomination, which is subject to confirmation by the General Assembly.
Shekarchi’s application to join the court would set off a debate over the state’s revolving-door law, which requires lawmakers to be absent from government for one year before taking another government position.
In an interview last month, John Marion, executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island, said he thought Shekarchi would make a fine justice, but that he needs to wait a year before seeking such a position.
Asked this week if Common Cause would file a complaint over the revolving door issue, Marion said via email, “If Shekarchi applies to the JNC, we’ll look at whether we think a complaint should be filed, and whether one might be successful if it were filed. Our process takes some time, however, so nothing would happen this week.”
In 2020, Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Erin Lynch Prata argued that the Supreme Court was a constitutional office exempt from the revolving door law. Legal staff for the state Ethics Commission disagreed, but the commission, in a 5-to-2 vote, did not block Lynch Prata’s path to become a justice.
Speculation about Shekarchi seeking the position has continued since former Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg retired earlier this year at age 75.
If he lands on the court, Shekarchi will be the first speaker to leave on his own terms since William J. Murphy, now a leading lobbyist, handed off the post to Gordon Fox in 2010.
Murphy resigned as speaker mid-session and served out his term as a rank-and-file representative.
Shekarchi appears likely to emulate that approach since it would distance him from leading the House of Representatives’ remaking of McKee’s $14.9 billion budget proposal while McKee is considering nominating Shekarchi to the Supreme Court.
Another question involves what becomes of the $4.7 million in Shekarchi’s campaign account.
House Majority Leader Chris Blazejewski (D-Providence), 46, who was first elected in 2010, is lined up to succeed Shekarchi as speaker, with House Democratic Whip Katherine Kazarian (D-East Providence) expected to become majority leader. Both are lawyers.
Blazejewski is considered more liberal than Shekarchi. But after spending more than a third of his life in the House of Representatives, he is likely to pursue a similar course as Shekarchi.
Shekarchi cut his political teeth while managing Paul Tsongas’ presidential campaign in Rhode Island in 1992.
He later managed Gina Raimondo’s 2010 run for general treasurer and has served in the House since first winning election in 2012.
Shekarchi is known as a consensus-builder and he’s well-liked by fellow lawmakers. He rose to the speakership after his mercurial predecessor, Nick Mattiello, lost his House seat in 2020.
The speaker’s tenure has been free from scandal and he contends the state is making some inroads against its housing crisis, while the legislature passed balanced budgets. At the same time, the state continues to wrestle with long-term challenges, including under-performing public schools and the growth of the state budget, which has climbed by about $6 billion in the last 10 years.
