Connecticut Supreme Court building in Hartford, CT. June 3, 2020. Photo by Michael Marciano.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced the appointment of a new Connecticut Supreme Court justice Monday afternoon, along with three Appellate Court nominations.

The governor chose Hartford Appellate Court Judge Christine E. Keller to serve on the Connecticut Supreme Court, replacing Justice Richard Palmer, who reached the mandatory age of retirement in May. Lamont selected Superior Court Judge Jose A. Suarez to fill the vacancy left by Keller, and picked two other Superior Court judges to fill Appellate vacancies: Judges Joan Alexander and Melanie Cradle were chosen to take over for retiring Chief Appellate Judge Alexandra DiPentima and fellow retiring Judge Robert Devlin.

With the state's General Assembly out of regular session, the interim appointments are subject to approval by the Judiciary Committee within 45 days.

"Nominating people to serve on our courts is one of the most important responsibilities of a governor," Lamont said in a written release. "These jurists have an enormous impact on our communities, and the individuals who serve in these roles must display a strong commitment to fairness and justice."

Lamont called the nominees "some of the best and brightest legal minds in Connecticut." Additional information on each appointee follows:

Judge Christine E. Keller

Judge Keller, 67, is a resident of Hartford who has served on the Appellate Court since 2013. Prior to that, she served on the Superior Court beginning in 1993 and was a family support magistrate beginning in 1989.

Judge Christine E. Keller

While on the Superior Court, Keller served as presiding judge in both the Hartford and Plainville juvenile courts. She also served terms in Waterbury criminal court, New Britain civil and family courts, the Middletown Regional Child Protection Session and Hartford criminal and civil courts. From 1997 to 2002, she served as the statewide chief administrative judge for juvenile matters.

Judge Keller has served on a number of task forces and committees affecting juvenile issues, including the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee and the Child Advocate Advisory Board. She has also served on the Court Improvement Project Advisory Board and the Governor's Task Force on Judicial Reform, which addressed openness in the judicial branch. She was chairperson of the Committee on Judicial Ethics, and from 1997 to 2005 was a member of the Superior Court Rules Committee. She also served as chair of a task force to recommend revisions to the juvenile rules of practice and a member of a subcommittee proposing revisions to the Code of Judicial Conduct.

Prior to her appointment as a family support magistrate and after graduation from law school, Keller practiced family, personal injury and real estate law at Neighborhood Legal Services in Hartford. She also worked at the Office of the Corporation Counsel for the City of Hartford and at the law firm of Ritter and Keller.

Keller earned her bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1974, and her juris doctor from UConn Law School in 1977.

Judge Joan Alexander

Judge Alexander, 58, of Cromwell has served on the Superior Court since 2000. She is the chief administrative judge for the criminal division and is assigned as the administrative and presiding judge for criminal matters in the Fairfield Judicial District. She is also currently the chair of the Sentence Review Division and co-chair of the Judicial-Media Committee. She was previously the administrative judge in the New Britain Judicial District and has served as the presiding criminal judge in New Britain, Hartford, Waterbury, Litchfield and New Haven.

Before joining the bench, Alexander was a prosecutor with the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice. She was assigned to the Waterbury and Hartford State's Attorneys offices and then became supervisor of the Statewide Prosecution Bureau. During her time as prosecutor, she handled many homicide and arson cases.

Alexander earned her bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1984 and her JD from UConn Law School in 1987.

Judge Melanie Cradle

Judge Cradle, 49, of Durham, Connecticut, has served on the Superior Court since 2013, and will be the first African-American woman to serve on the Appellate Court.

Cradle heard criminal cases in Bridgeport for a year before moving to the New Haven Judicial District in 2014. In 2015, she became the presiding judge in GA 23 in New Haven. She also serves on the Law Library Advisory Committee, the Rules Committee of the Superior Court, and the Criminal Justice Commission. She is a member of the New Haven Inn of Court, is a James W. Cooper Fellow with the Connecticut Bar Foundation and is an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law.

Before her appointment to the bench, Cradle was senior assistant state's attorney for the Ansonia/Milford Judicial District. She also served as assistant state's attorney in New Haven and an adjunct professor at Housatonic Community College.

Cradle has served as a member of the National College of District Attorneys, the National Association of Black Prosecutors, the Ansonia/Milford Multidisciplinary Team and the State of Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice Diversity Committee. She was also a mentor for the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity.

Cradle earned her bachelor's degree from Adelphi University in 1993, and her juris doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1998.

Judge Jose A. Suarez

Judge Suarez, 54, is a resident of Chester, Connecticut and has served on the Superior Court since 2009. He has been the administrative judge for the Middlesex Judicial District since 2017. During his first three years on the bench, Suarez served in the Tolland Judicial District, where he heard criminal and family matters.

From 2012 to 2015, he was assigned to the Hartford Judicial District and presided over criminal jury trials. From 2015 to 2017, he was the presiding judge for the Hartford Judicial District Family Division. As a Superior Court judge, Suarez has authored more than 90 opinions and has presided over 50 jury trials.

Before joining the bench, Suarez worked in the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, including in the office's Child Protection Unit, where he handled complex child protection matters. In 2003, he transferred to the office's Environment Department, handling state and national climate change matters.

Suarez was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Connecticut with his family at the age of 11. He earned his bachelor's degree from University of Dayton in 1989, and his juris doctor from UConn School of Law in 1993.