The Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee has scheduled Superior Court Judge Luis M. Matos's nomination to the state Supreme Court for hearings at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, and Wednesday, Nov. 18, in Room 35 of the State House. The Senate Judiciary Committee posted its hearing for 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30, in Room 313.
The House committee's Nov. 17 notice was posted Nov. 9 and its Nov. 18 notice was posted Nov. 12. Both list one item: the appointment of Matos in place of Associate Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. The notices do not say why the committee set two days. Written comment to HouseJudiciary@rilegislature.gov must arrive before 3 p.m. on the day of the hearing to reach members. The hearings will be televised by Capitol Television and livestreamed.
The Senate notice, posted Nov. 13 at 2:46 p.m., lists Matos's appointment and the reappointment of Erika Kruse Weller as a magistrate of the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal. Written testimony must be submitted before 2 p.m. on Nov. 30. The committee's calendar shows it also meets Nov. 17 and 18 at 2 p.m., but its Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 agendas list other judicial appointments, not Matos.
McKee announced the nomination Aug. 12, saying Matos was chosen from five candidates the Judicial Nominating Committee sent him. The governor's release says Matos has been an associate justice of the Superior Court since 2012. Before that he was an assistant U.S. attorney in Rhode Island starting in 2001, and held posts including chief of the civil and criminal divisions, first assistant U.S. attorney and acting U.S. attorney. Earlier, he worked at the Justice Department in Washington and as an assistant U.S. attorney in Delaware, where he became the national health care fraud coordinator.
The release says Matos serves on the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Rhode Island Courts and became involved in a program to waive, reduce or remit court costs for indigent defendants, hearing petitions from more than 650 people and remitting more than $1.2 million. It says the nominee must go through advice and consent in both the House and the Senate.
