This is Bound To Get Some Conservatives In a Huff

Via Botson Globe:

Barbara A. Lenk, a veteran Appeals Court judge, today won confirmation to a seat on the Supreme Judicial Court, becoming the first openly gay judge to serve on the state’s highest judicial body.

The Governor’s Council confirmed Lenk on a 5-3 vote. She is Governor Deval Patrick’s fourth appointment to the seven-member SJC, which issued the landmark 2003 ruling that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Lenk, who married her partner, Debra Krupp, after the ruling, has 18 years’ experience on the bench, a degree from Harvard Law School, and a doctorate in political philosophy from Yale. Patrick nominated her to replace Justice Judith A. Cowin, who is retiring.

Lenk's confirmation hearing last week lasted more than seven hours, and was often contentious.

Critics raised questions about Lenk’s ruling in an incest case, and about whether she had avoided conflicts of interest when Krupp represented clients at the Appeals Court in her capacity as a lawyer for the state public defenders’ office.

Yeah, because when incest is the issue you can't trust a gay judge. Sheesh.