WESTFIELD – The Court house on Elm Street in downtown Westfield will now be known as the John M. Greaney District Court. On Friday, Governor Charlie Baker officially signed into law House Bill 1642, a petition put forth by Representative John Velis to name the Courthouse after the esteemed Westfield native.
Justice John Greaney (AP Photo).
Justice John M. Greaney sat on the bench for 34 years before retiring at the mandatory age of 70. In that time, he distinguished himself in four separate judgeships in the Commonwealth, and presided over some of Massachusetts’s landmark Supreme Judicial Court Cases. Now, the Courthouse he started his career in will officially bear his name.
“Judge Greaney is one of the most respected legal minds in the Commonwealth. As an attorney, a member of the Judiciary Committee, and an admirer of Judge Greaney’s, I am glad that our city will now honor him in such a significant way,” said Representative Velis, who also considers Greaney a family friend.
Echoing those sentiments, Senator Humason, who co-sponsored the bill in the Massachusetts Senate, remarked, “I am pleased that we could honor a distinguished Westfield Jurist like John Greaney by naming the Westfield District Court after him. I am a former Trial Court employee. I began my public service career at the Westfield District Court. I know Judge Greaney serves as an inspiration to many in the Massachusetts judicial system.”
Chief Justice John M. Greaney was born in Westfield in April 1939. After graduating from St. Mary’s High School and College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, he went on to earn his law degree
from the New York University School of Law. While at law school, Greaney was a Root-Tilden Scholar and chairperson of the Annual Survey of American Law. He graduated in 1963 and went on to serve in the Air National Guard for a brief time.
Between 1974 and 1978, Judge Greaney sat on both the Housing Court and Superior Court as an Associate Justice. In 1978, he was appointed to the Massachusetts Appeals Court. After serving as their Chief Justice for 5 years, he was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court, Massachusetts’s highest judicial body. Greaney served as an Associate Justice there for 19 years, during which he had a substantial impact on the Massachusetts Judicial system.
As a member of the Massachusetts Bar, Representative Velis is well aware of the substantial influence that Justice Greaney has had on our judicial system.
“Justice Greaney is an inspiration to any aspiring or practicing attorney. He literally wrote the book on Summary Judgement in Massachusetts and set standards for trial court judges across the Commonwealth, in addition to many contributions to legal treatise throughout his career. I have admired him since my early days of practicing law.”
Many remember Justice Greaney for the impact he had on civil rights in the Commonwealth. As one of seven justices on the Supreme Judicial Court in 2003, Greaney wrote the concurring and pivotal decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the landmark case that gave same-sex couples in Massachusetts the right to marry, historically recognized throughout the nation. In his decision, he famously wrote the lines, “We share a common humanity and participate together in the social contract that is the foundation of our Commonwealth. Simple principles of decency dictate that we extend . . . full acceptance, tolerance and respect. We should do so because it is the right thing to do.”
Even though he has hung up his robe, Judge Greaney has yet to actually “retire.” He served as a Professor of Trial and Appellate Court Advocacy at the Suffolk University School of Law and the director of their Macaronis Institute for several years after stepping down from the bench. Now back in Westfield, he is occupied as senior council at Bulkley, Richardson & Gelinas, a prodigious law firm based in Springfield.
Says Representative Velis, “The John M. Greaney Courthouse will now stand as a testament to the fairness, equality, and justice under the law that he brought to the bench for over 30 years. I’m proud to have been involved in the Commonwealth’s effort to honor and thank Justice Greaney.”
