PROVIDENCE The first openings in a decade on the Rhode Island Supreme Court gave members of the House of Representatives a chance on Wednesday to approve two newcomers to the court.
The House approved Gov. Gina Raimondo s nomination of Erin Lynch Prata, a powerful six-term state Senator, on a 58-to-5 vote, despite arguments the appointment violates the state s 1992 revolving-door ban against leaps directly from the State House to the courts.
Until her resignation last week, Lynch Prata chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The lawmakers unanimously approved Raimondo s nomination of the first Black person, Superior Court Judge Melissa Long, to the Supreme Court, a nomination that was hailed by Long s backers as important and historic in the context of civil-rights tensions roiling Rhode Island and the nation.