Julia Lipez speaks to a legislative committee on March 19 about her nomination to Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald
Gov. Janet Mills swore in four new Maine judges on Friday, including one on the state’s highest court.
Julia Lipez is now an associate justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. She is filling a one-year-old vacancy, left by former Associate Justice Joseph Jabar in February 2024.
Lipez’s nomination on Feb. 28 was Mills’ sixth to the high court since taking office. The Senate confirmed Lipez last week.
Lipez was most recently a Superior Court justice who almost joined the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. She was nominated by former President Joe Biden, but the Senate adjourned before she was confirmed.
Prior to becoming a judge, she was a federal prosecutor in Maine.
“Justice Lipez has an exemplary record and a strong commitment to the rule of law,” Mills said in a written statement Friday. “I have no doubt that she will serve with distinction and integrity. She is an excellent addition to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which is now at full complement.”
Mills also swore in former U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee to serve on the Superior Court, as well as Amy Dieterich and Matthew Tice to the Maine District Court.
Tice was already on the bench. Dieterich was most recently a lawyer in Lewiston.
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