By Mark Pazniokas / CTMirror.org

Raheem Mullins has been confirmed as chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court by the General Assembly, over the objections of small Republican voting blocs in the House and Senate.

Mullins, the interim chief justice since last fall, was endorsed Tuesday by votes of 131-13 in the House and 31-3 in the Senate. He was nominated for the post by Gov. Ned Lamont.

Associate Justice Gregory T. D’Auria was confirmed for a second eight-year term by lopsided margins.

The second Black chief justice in the state’s history and one of the youngest people to be appointed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, Mullins has served as a judge in every level of the state’s court system.

Most recently, he had been an associate justice on the state’s highest court.

A graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, Mullins previously served as an assistant attorney general and an assistant state’s attorney. 

Since 2012, he’s held various positions on the bench, including two years as a Superior Court judge, three years as an appellate court judge and the last seven years as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.  

Tuesday’s debates over both confirmations were perfunctory.

State Sens. Heather Somers of Groton and Jeff Gordon of Woodstock joined Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott, who had cast the sole negative vote against Mullins on the Judiciary Committee.

Three first-term House Republicans joined 10 conservatives in opposition to Mullins: state Reps. Joe Canino of Torrington, Arnold Jensen of Oxford and Chris Stewart of Putnam. None spoke in debate.

Some Republicans showed they had long memories by voting Tuesday against the confirmation of Richard Palmer, a retired Supreme Court justice, as a trial referee.

In 2017, Palmer barely won confirmation in the Senate to a final eight-year term as a justice. He he faced opposition then over his authorship of opinions that legalized same-sex marriage and ended the last vestige of capital punishment.

Palmer was endorsed as a referee Tuesday by votes of 105-38 in the House and 26-7 in the Senate. 

House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, were among those opposing Palmer.

With reporting by CTMirror’s Andrew Brown.