On Sept 26, 2018 Justice Andrew McDonald will give a speak at the Retired Men’s Association at First Presbyterian Church at 11:00am sharp.
Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government.
That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan interests. Judicial independence is important to the idea of separation of powers. This concept can be traced back to 18th-century England.
Different countries deal with this idea in different ways. Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Andrew J. McDonald will give his perspective on this important pillar of democracy.
A Connecticut native, Justice McDonald attended Stamford public schools before entering college. After graduating from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988, he earned a Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1991, where he served as the Managing Editor of the Connecticut Journal of International Law. Justice McDonald also holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Western New England University School of Law.
In January of 2013, Governor Dannel P. Malloy nominated Justice McDonald to be an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, and he was confirmed by the Connecticut General Assembly later that month.
In addition to his service as an associate justice, Justice McDonald also serves as the Chairman of the Connecticut Criminal Justice Commission and as Chairman of the Rules Committee of the Superior Court.
From 1991 to 2011, Justice McDonald was engaged in the private practice of law with the firm of Pullman & Comley, LLC. He was a commercial litigator and handled all stages of litigation in federal and state courts at both the trial and appellate levels.
Justice McDonald was a State Senator from 2003 to 2011. He served as the Senate Chairman of the Judiciary Committee for all eight years he was in the General Assembly. During periods of his legislative career he also served as the Senate Vice Chairman of the Energy and Technology Committee and as a member of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, the Transportation Committee, the Education Committee and the Regulations Review Committee. From 2005 to 2011, he served as Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate.
Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice McDonald served as the General Counsel to the Office of the Governor for the State of Connecticut from 2011 to 2013
Justice McDonald and his husband, Charles, live in Stamford.