Chase T. Rogers won unanimous General Assembly approval to become the new chief justice of the state Supreme Court last week, a job she could hold for the next two decades.
The Senate voted 33-0, with three absent, and the House of Representatives voted 149-0, with two absent.
Rogers was sworn in by former Chief Justice Ellen Ash Peters at 4 p.m. last Wednesday, the same day as the vote. A formal swearing-in ceremony with Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who nominated the unaffiliated Rogers, will be held at a later date.
Rogers received high praise from both Republicans and Democrats, with many lauding her intellect and sense of fairness. Some female lawmakers expressed excitement that Rogers will be the state’s second woman chief justice. Peters oversaw the state’s high court from 1984 to 1996.
“I am extremely pleased that this remarkable woman, Chase Rogers, is going to be the chief justice of our Supreme Court,” said Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia. “I’m really honored that a woman is going to be heading our judicial branch of government.”
Rogers, a 50-year-old Appellate Court judge, is expected lead the state’s judicial branch for the next two decades. The mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices is 70. But at least one lawmaker, Rep. Arthur O’Neill, R-Southbury, suggested that Rogers may eventually be tapped for a federal judgeship.
Rell nominated Rogers after her first choice, Supreme Court Justice Peter Zarella, withdrew his name from consideration last year in response to a scandal involving former Chief Justice William Sullivan.
Sullivan acknowledged that he delayed the release of a court ruling last year to help Zarella win confirmation.
Aside from presiding over the state Supreme Court, the chief justice oversees the judicial branch’s operations.
A Connecticut native, Rogers graduated from Stanford University in 1979 and earned her law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1983. She has served as a presiding judge for juvenile matters in Bridgeport, in the regional Child Protection Session in Middletown, the Complex Litigation Docket in Stamford and as presiding judge for civil matters in the Stamford-Norwalk district.
Former Gov. John G. Rowland nominated Rogers to the Appellate Court in February 2006.
