Executive Councilors chose not to reconsider the nomination of a judicial appointee whose rejection drew scrutiny from New Hampshire’s legal community.
Councilors had voted 3-2 at a meeting earlier this month to reject the nomination of long-time public defender Dorothy Graham to the Superior Court bench.
All three Republican councilors voted against confirming Graham. Councilor Joe Kenney said he couldn’t confirm an attorney who defended child sex offenders.
At the meeting Wednesday, Councilors chose not to reconsider that decision, despite opposition from more than two dozen past presidents of the New Hampshire Bar Association.
In a letter to the council, the group asked the Executive Council to remember that defending the accused is “a bedrock of our justice system.”