Lamont nominates Nora R. Dannehy to serve on Connecticut Supreme Court

Gov. Ned Lamont announced his plan to nominate Nora R. Dannehy to serve as an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.

Dannehy held multiple roles in the U.S. Department of Justice from 1991 to 2010, including becoming the first woman to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut in 2008. In 2010, she was appointed as Deputy Attorney General for the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Connecticut in a role that required her to supervise the office”™s day-to-day litigation efforts. From 2013 until 2019, she was the associate general counsel for global ethics and compliance for United Technologies Corp. In 2019, she returned to public service as Counsel to the U.S. Attorney, and then as General Counsel to Governor Lamont from 2021 until January 2023, when she joined the Hartford law firm Cowdery, Murphy, Dannehy & Healy LLC.

If confirmed, Dannehy would fill the seat most recently held by Maria Araújo Kahn, who resigned earlier this year after being confirmed to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

“Nora has a reputation in Connecticut as a fighter of corruption and crooked public officials, providing protections that ensure our justice system is shielding the interests of the people and not the powerful,” Lamont said in a press statement. “She has never been intimidated to back down from a fight against those in the highest levels of government, and her work has resulted in groundbreaking reforms in Connecticut that will forever shape how we elect public officials and their requirements for openness and transparency. She is incredibly qualified to serve on the bench and will be a great addition to the Supreme Court.”

Photo courtesy Cowdery, Murphy, Dannehy & Healy LLC