THE CONTROVERSY over the MBTA Communities rezoning law, which has now landed before the state’s highest court, is colliding with a campaign for a little-known job tied to that same court.
The MBTA law, which calls for 175 communities to ease local restrictions on multifamily housing near public transit, is drawing pushback from some cities and towns. The Supreme Judicial Court is set to hear arguments in the legal battle over whether Milton must comply with the law, which town officials who favor local control say is an overreach.
While it’s unclear where the SJC justices will come down on the question, a candidate running for the elected clerk’s position that helps run the court seemed to show her hand earlier this month. Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy, one of two candidates running for the open SJC Clerk for Suffolk County seat in the September Democratic primary, appeared recently at a roadside rally against the MBTA law, something that a retired judge said shows “poor judgment” on Murphy’s part.
Murphy is vying against public defender Allison Cartwright in the September 3 primary for the post, which oversees the state’s highest court, but is elected only by voters in Suffolk County, which spans Boston, Revere, Chelsea, and Winthrop.
The job, which does not require the officeholder to be a lawyer, involves handling the SJC’s single-justice caseload, petitions for admission to the Massachusetts bar, and attorney disciplinary matters. Murphy, who touts her time as a councilor and former teacher as her main qualifications for the legal post, has called it “administrative.” The campaign has largely focused on running an efficient and accessible office.
But as the SJC weighs the MBTA law, Murphy has stepped into the political fight over it. While seeking votes in the ocean-facing Boston suburb of Winthrop earlier this month, Murphy joined a roadside rally taking aim at the law. Signs at the rally said, “Stop State Mandated Zoning.”
Speaking with CommonWealth Beacon, Murphy said she was leaving a separate event in the area when she walked by the rally and then joined in. But she insisted she has not taken a stance supporting or opposing the MBTA law. Her appearance at the rally, and posing for a photo with supporters, is a “non-issue,” she said, before adding, “I’m not supposed to take a stand on anything ever?”
In the interview, Murphy said voters often appreciate that she’s willing to take a stand, but reiterated she is not doing so on the MBTA law. She said she backs Revere residents who favor the MBTA law, while also backing Winthrop residents voicing concerns, because she supports “any group anywhere that feels as though things are being shoved upon them.”
Winthrop has until the end of the year to submit its compliance plan for the new law to state housing officials. (Boston is exempt from the law.)
The high court is expected to take up the MBTA law this fall, well before the winner of the clerk’s race takes office in January, and the case has already passed through the clerk’s office and moved up to the full court. But some argue that Murphy made a misstep by joining a rally on a polarizing legal topic before the court, while campaigning for an SJC job that calls for objectivity.
“The appearance of impartiality goes all the way down to the clerk,” said Nancy Gertner, a former federal judge who regularly comments on legal issues.
“It shows poor judgment, especially at a time when the integrity of the courts are hanging in the balance. You want people to be particularly attentive to things like that,” added Gertner, who lives in Brookline and has stayed neutral in the race for clerk.
Cartwright’s campaign didn’t comment when asked about the rally, but state Sen. Lydia Edwards, an attorney and a top Cartwright supporter who represents parts of Boston as well as Winthrop and Revere, called Murphy’s appearance “inappropriate and unprofessional.”
Murphy has drawn support from South Boston elected officials and various unions, while Cartwright has pulled in endorsements from Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in addition to Edwards, and donations from bold-faced names in Greater Boston’s legal sector. On the trail, Murphy has hinted that Cartwright is playing insider politics with the endorsements, while Cartwright has suggested she is better qualified for the job because she is an attorney and Murphy is not.
Gertner called the SJC clerkship a “complicated” job. As the web page for the outgoing clerk notes, on top of admission of attorneys and discipline, the job involves handling “petitions seeking relief of lower court rulings under the SJC’s superintendency power and various rules of court; bail reviews; (and) appeals from State registration boards and agencies,” among other things.
“It’s not the RMV,” Gertner added.
“These are fraught times when the courts should be particularly attentive to the appearance of impartiality,” she said. “And when I say courts, I mean all the participants, all of the people involved in court.”
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