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Baker nominates judge Dalila Argaez Wendlandt for SJC

Dalila Argaez Wendlandt at a Governor's Council hearing in 2017.

BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday nominated Massachusetts Appeals Court Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt to fill an open seat on the state’s highest court.

If confirmed, Wendlandt would be the first Latina to serve on the high court bench.

Baker, who last week tapped SJC Justice Kimberly Budd to serve as the court’s new chief justice, made the announcement at an afternoon press conference with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito at the State House.

Along with the associate justice seat that Budd will vacate if she is confirmed, Baker also has to fill the seat that will open later this year with Judge Barbara Lenk’s retirement. Doing so will mean Baker has appointed all seven justices of the top court, if his nominees are confirmed.

Baker appointed Wendlandt to the Appeals Court bench in 2017 to fill the seat that opened up with Elspeth Cypher’s elevation to the SJC. A New Orleans native and the daughter of Colombian immigrants, Wendlandt graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at MIT before attending Stanford University Law School.

“The law is complex, which is why I love it. Right? As an engineer I was solving complex problems on widgets, and the law - I get to solve complex problems,” Wendlandt said during her 2017 confirmation hearing.

The Governor’s Council, which will vet Wendlandt for the SJC post, unanimously confirmed her for the Appeals Court.

Before becoming a judge, Wendlandt was a partner in the intellectual property litigation group at Ropes & Gray LLP. She clerked for Judge John Walker Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after graduating law school in 1996.


This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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