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Ellen Ash Peters, First Female Chief Justice of Connecticut Supreme Court, Dies at 94
Ellen Ash Peters, the first woman to serve as Connecticut’s chief justice and author of the majority opinion in the state Supreme Court’s landmark school desegregation ruling in 1996, has passed away at the age of 94. You can read the full article here.
Quick Facts
- Ellen Ash Peters, the first female chief justice of Connecticut Supreme Court, has died at the age of 94.
- She was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1978 and became chief justice in 1984.
- Peters authored the majority opinion in the Sheff v. O’Neill case, declaring the segregation of Hartford-area schools to be unconstitutional.
Ellen Ash Peters, the first female chief justice of Connecticut Supreme Court, passed away at the age of 94. She was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1978 and became chief justice in 1984. Peters authored the majority opinion in the Sheff v. O’Neill case, declaring the segregation of Hartford-area schools to be unconstitutional. She also led an effort to prevent gender and racial bias in the court system.
During her time on the Supreme Court, Peters presided over cases ranging from ones involving the death penalty to property disputes. She also wrote the majority opinion in a ruling that upheld the state’s ban on assault weapons. Peters was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1930 and fled to New York City in fear of Nazi party rule. She graduated from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania in 1951 and from Yale Law School in 1954. She became Yale Law School’s first female faculty member in 1956 and the first woman to earn tenure at the school in 1964. Peters continued to teach law at Yale as an adjunct professor until she became chief justice.
Top political leaders and legal experts praised Peters for her dedication to ensuring justice and equality. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont called her a trailblazer and noted the importance of the school desegregation ruling. Former Connecticut Chief Justice Chase Rogers described Peters as a brilliant jurist who smashed the glass ceiling for other women in the judiciary.
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