Washington, DC - At today's Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Angel Kelley who has been nominated to serve on the United States District Court of Massachusetts. Judge Kelley was recommended to Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) as a top candidate for the federal judicial vacancy by the bipartisan Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Judicial Nominations.

Senator Warren: Thank you Senator Ossoff and Ranking Member Grassley.      

Today, I have the privilege of introducing Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Angel Kelley, who has been nominated to serve as a judge on the federal District Court in Massachusetts.

Judge Kelley's 28-year legal career has provided her excellent preparation for joining the federal bench in Massachusetts. Judge Kelley has served as a judge in the Commonwealth since 2009, as an associate justice on both the state district court and superior court in Brockton. She also served as a regional administrative judge from 2017 to 2020.

Judge Kelley's legal career has also consistently centered on the public interest. She began her career working as a Staff Attorney in the Juvenile Rights Division at the Legal Aid Society in New York, where she served as a Law Guardian in child protective matters, representing abused and neglected children. She also worked as a public defender in juvenile delinquency cases. Her public service career continued in the Law Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and later as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston for two years.  Judge Kelley also taught at the Legal Aid Bureau at Harvard Law where she supervised students in Probate and Family Court and taught courses in family law and litigation skills.

Judge Kelley is supremely qualified to serve on the federal district court in Massachusetts. In addition to her professional commitment to public service, Judge Kelley has made it a personal mission to bring about change through her role on the bench, both in her courtroom and in those of her colleagues. For years, Judge Kelley has led efforts to encourage our state courts to reflect on and publicly acknowledge the injustices that Black Americans have long faced in this country. Those efforts have included community listening sessions and educational events on race - including a conversation on "Confronting Racism in the Courts" for other Massachusetts judges.

In 2019, Judge Kelley single handedly organized a judicial educational program to travel to Montgomery, Alabama to visit the Equal Justice Initiatives' Legacy Museum. Judges and their families traveled to Montgomery to meet with members of the Alabama judiciary, to tour the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, to visit the Rosa Parks Museum, and to reflect as a group on the role of the judiciary in our country and the implications of judicial decisions on the broader society.

I could go on and on about her personal and professional qualifications for the federal bench. Judge Kelley has demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing equal justice under law, and she has gone out of her way to educate her colleagues on how they can bring about a more equitable legal system. I have no doubt that she will continue this work on the federal district court in Massachusetts.

Welcome, Judge Kelley, and congratulations on your nomination. And also welcome my colleague and partner Senator Markey.