Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, usually called the SJC, is the highest court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It claims to be the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Americas, a claim the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania disputes, tracing its lineage to the Superior Court of Judicature set up in 1692 under the charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 renamed that provincial court rather than creating a new one. The court sits at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston and today has one chief justice and six associate justices. The word Judicial in its name keeps it distinct from the General Court, the state legislature. Because of the Supremacy Clause it follows United States Supreme Court rulings where state and federal law conflict, but it is known for reading the state constitution as protecting civil liberties more broadly. It also gives advisory opinions to the governor and legislature on request. Its best known decisions include Commonwealth v. Jennison in 1783, Commonwealth v. Hunt in 1842 and Goodridge v. Department of Public Health in 2003.