N.H. Attorney General Gordon MacDonald will be the next chief justice of the state Supreme Court.
New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald has been confirmed as chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, ending a protracted political dispute over who should lead the state’s high court.
The Executive Council vote Friday broke along party lines, with the council’s four Republicans uniting to elevate MacDonald, who’s never been a judge but who is widely respected in state legal circles, to the state’s highest judicial post.
“I haven’t seen an attorney general work any harder than Gordon MacDonald,” said Councilor David Wheeler, a Republican from Milford. “He has never lied to me -- that’s a big deal for me -- never given me false information. And that is a characteristic I’d like to see in a Supreme Court justice.”