Richard N. Palmer (born May 27, 1950) is a former Associate Justice of the

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit i ...

. Palmer was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. Palmer received his Bachelor of Arts

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Hartford in 1972. He went on to receive the Juris Doctor with high honors from the

University of Connecticut School of Law The University of Connecticut School of Law (UConn Law) is the law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. As ...

, in 1977. Following law school, Palmer clerked for Judge Jon O. Newman, then of the

United States District Court for the District of Connecticut The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeal ...

. After practicing privately with Shipman & Goodwin, Palmer was an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

in the

U.S. Attorney's Office United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the District of Connecticut, interrupted briefly by a stint in the firm of Chatigny and Palmer. In 1991, Palmer served as the United States Attorney in Connecticut, and subsequently became Chief State's Attorney for the State of Connecticut. On March 17, 1993, he was sworn in as an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. On October 10, 2008, Palmer wrote the majority opinion for the Connecticut Supreme Court case ''

Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health ''Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health'', 289 Conn. 135, 957 A.2d 407, is a 2008 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court holding that allowing same-sex couples to form same-sex unions but not marriages violates the Constitution of Connecti ...

'', granting marriage rights to same-sex couples in Connecticut, striking down a law passed in 2005 granting civil union rights to them. Palmer retired on May 27, 2020, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age.

References

1950 births Living people 21st-century American judges Assistant United States attorneys Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni University of Connecticut School of Law alumni {{Connecticut-state-judge-stub