When Margaret H. Marshall took her seat as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1999, she made history as the first woman to lead the Commonwealth’s highest court in its more than 300-year existence. But “firsts” have never been the sum of her story. For Marshall, the role was never about breaking barriers for the sake of headlines – it was about the work itself: the belief that law must serve the people, and that justice, when done right, strengthens the fabric of democracy.
Her eleven years as Chief Justice would be marked by modernization, transparency, and landmark decisions. She presided over sweeping reforms to improve access to justice, strengthen the judiciary’s relationship with the public, and enhance diversity on the bench. Yet her name will forever be linked to Goodridge v. Department of Public Health – the 2003 case that made Massachusetts the first state in the nation to recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry.
“Liberty and equality,” Marshall wrote in that decision, “are not lofty abstractions. They are vital personal rights belonging to all individuals.” The opinion was not only a legal milestone: it became a rallying point for a national movement that, a dozen years later, culminated in the United States Supreme Court’s recognition of marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges.
From Apartheid South Africa to the United States
Marshall’s journey to the top of the Massachusetts judiciary began far from Boston – in the small coal-mining town of Newcastle, South Africa. Born in 1944, she grew up in the shadow of apartheid, a system that codified racial segregation and denied basic rights to the majority of the population.
She remembers one incident vividly. When she was about ten years old, her family was driving through the mountains on a Sunday afternoon when she saw a Black man riding a bicycle on the side of the deserted road. A car in front of theirs slowed down as it approached the cyclist. Suddenly a hand appeared from the car window holding a long leather whip, a “sjambok”. With no provocation, the cyclist was whipped as the car sped past him, leaving the cyclist lying on the side of the road. “It was a random act of violence,” Marshall recalled. “Incidents like this just happened. There was such violence toward Black South Africans.” And yet for me, that was one of many that became imprinted in my brain.”
It was only when she came to the United States as a high school exchange student that she began to understand the difference democracy could make. In America, she saw the civil rights movement in action, and for the first time realized courts could be a place where injustice was confronted rather than perpetuated.
The Scholar Becomes a Lawyer
Marshall later returned to the United States as a post graduate student, intending to study, not to stay. She came to Harvard planning to pursue a PhD in art history, but soon realized she was not destined for a scholar’s life. At dinner one evening in Harvard Square, she confided her frustrations to a South African friend whose wife, Susan Garsh, (later a Superior Court Justice) was then a student at Harvard Law School. “You should go to law school,” Garsh advised. “I followed her advice, was admitted to Yale Law School, and from day one knew I was in the right place,” Marshall remarked. “I have always given Judge Garsh credit for starting my legal career.”
At Yale, she never felt like an outsider because she was an immigrant. The United States was “an extraordinarily welcoming space to immigrants” she says. But being an immigrant was not always easy. Communications with her family were a challenge – letters home to South Africa could take six weeks – and the food was strange. “A fancy dinner was steak, a baked potato, iceberg lettuce, and Sara Lee cake,” she laughed, “not the spicy dishes I relished growing up in a part of South Africa with a large Indian population.”
When she graduated in 1976 from Yale Law School she knew “not one lawyer in Massachusetts,” she remarked. She started her career at a small firm and later moved to Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston, where she built a reputation as a meticulous litigator. “The Boston Bar Association was so important early in my career,” she continued. “At the BBA I met other lawyers and even judges. I began to feel that the Boston legal community was my home.”
From Harvard to the Supreme Judicial Court
In 1992, Harvard University tapped her as Vice President and General Counsel, making her the university’s chief legal officer, the first woman to hold that position.
Her tenure at Harvard drew attention beyond academia. In 1996, Governor William F. Weld appointed her as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Three years later, Governor A. Paul Cellucci named her as Chief Justice.
With that appointment came an invisible weight. “As is so often the case with a first, I always felt the pressure of having to succeed,” she said. “It is the kind of pressure Justice Sandra Day O’Connor spoke about – you feel you must do well so it will not be harder for the women who follow.” But she also felt tremendous support from her colleagues and the bar. “That made all the difference.”
Modernizing the Courts
When Marshall assumed the role, the Massachusetts court system was respected for its history but in need of modernization. She made it a priority to improve access to justice for all, regardless of income, education, or English fluency. She pressed for opinions to be written in clear, accessible language. She oversaw the expansion of technology in the courts and championed the Trial Court’s first strategic plan.
She also worked to make the judiciary more reflective of the Commonwealth’s diversity. “Justice is best advanced when the legal community mirrors the diversity of the public,” she often said – a principle rooted in her own experiences of exclusion and inequality.
The Landmark Goodridge Decision
For all her reforms, it is Goodridge that cemented Marshall’s place in legal history. In 2001, seven same-sex couples sued the Commonwealth of Massachusetts after being denied marriage licenses. The case reached the Supreme Judicial Court in 2003. In a 4–3 decision authored by Marshall, the Court held that the Massachusetts Constitution did not permit the exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage.
“The history of our Constitution,” she wrote, “is the story of the extension of constitutional rights to people once ignored or excluded.”
Marshall remembers being stunned by the global response. “Sitting as a state Supreme Court justice, you are not accustomed to becoming the center of national and international news. I was aware there was media interest in the case, but I had no idea it would be so huge.” The ruling prompted both jubilation and backlash, including an attempt to overturn it through a constitutional convention. “It was a challenging time,” she recalled. “But as a judge, you learn that each case is important. You close the briefs in one case, open the briefs in the next, and do the best you can, case after case.”
A National Voice for Judicial Independence
Marshall’s influence extended beyond Massachusetts. She served as President of the Conference of Chief Justices and Chair of the Board of the National Center for State Courts, speaking forcefully about the importance of an independent judiciary.
She warned that courts under political attack risked losing public trust, emphasizing that judicial independence was not a privilege for judges but a protection for the people. She also championed civic education, arguing that the public must understand how courts work if they are to value and defend them.
Life After the Bench
Marshall stepped down in 2010, citing the need to spend more time with her husband, Anthony Lewis, the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and longtime New York Times columnist who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. “I discovered quickly,” she said with a smile, “that people no longer obeyed my orders.” After decades of working 80-hour weeks, she cherished a year of travel and long visits to South Africa with Lewis before his passing in 2013.
“It was a very difficult decision to leave the Court” she reflected. “But in retrospect, it was certainly worthwhile.” Retirement has not slowed her down: she returned to Choate, Hall & Stewart as senior counsel, serves on nonprofit boards, and continues to speak publicly about justice and democracy.
A Legacy of Courage and Clarity
Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall’s story is one of courage, conviction, and careful leadership. She navigated the most politically charged decision of her era without compromising the judiciary’s integrity. She modernized the Massachusetts courts, strengthened public access, and worked to ensure that justice was not just a principle on paper, but a lived reality for all.
Of all her accomplishments, one stands out in her own mind: the privilege of serving as an immigrant who rose to lead a court she had admired long before joining it. “The Supreme Judicial Court was the first court in the world to declare that slavery was inconsistent with liberty,” she said. “To find myself not only on the Court, but as Chief Justice – was the highest privilege and honor.”
As for her legacy, she hopes it will be remembered in simple terms: “I tried my best to make the world a little better.”
Her journey – from a small South African mining town to the highest judicial office in Massachusetts – embodies the belief that law must always be a safeguard for human dignity.
“The law is not abstract,” she has said. “It is about people’s lives. And when we remember that, we serve justice best.”
