AP Photo/Winslow Townson

Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Location Boston, MA
Age 62
GSE Ed.M. 1969

When opponents of same-sex unions decry “activist judges,” they’re pointing—directly or indirectly—to Marshall. She wrote the majority opinion on Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the 2003 decision ruling that the state had “no rational basis” to deny civil marriage to gay couples. If a decision that defies public opinion is activist, the label fits. Appointed to the bench by a Republican governor, elevated to her current post by his Republican successor, Marshall is passionate about judicial independence, a position that has its roots in her native South Africa. She led student activism against apartheid and later won the commendation of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Marshall argues that too many Americans, even those devoted to the law, take judicial independence for granted. “This is the piece of me that’s different from you,” she has said. “I never take that for granted.”

However… The Goodridge ruling prompted a nationwide backlash; 16 states have since adopted constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.

Google hits 16,300 for “Margaret H. Marshall”; 670,000 for “activist judges"