---
title: "Geraldine Hines | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/geraldine-hines-4736"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-10-09"
---

# Geraldine Hines

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · Judge

## Profile

- Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
- State: Massachusetts
- Role: Judge
- Service status: former
- Last verified: 2026-08-22

## Summary

Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge.

## Biography

### Professional career

- Judge, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2014-present
- In 2022, she chaired a panel appointed by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to assist in selecting the Boston Police Department commissioner
- Geraldine S. Hines is a retired American judge best known as the first Black woman to serve on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, holding that seat from 2014 to 2017

### Education

- University of Wisconsin Law School in — J.D. (1971)
- Tougaloo College in — B.A. (1968)

### Additional information

- Retired in August 2017 at age 69, just before the mandatory retirement age of 70.
- Practitioner, 2013-2013
- legis, 2013-2013
- Born October 29, 1947.
- Date of birth: 1947-10-29
- Known for challenging systemic issues, including excessive bail practices and police misconduct
- Hines was born in Scott, Mississippi, and grew up in the Mississippi Delta.
- Birth place: Scott

## Before you appear

- Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.
- Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.
- Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.

## Courtroom Rules

### recording and photography

Scope: statewide

In Massachusetts courts, photography, recording, or electronic transmission in a courtroom or related judicial space requires prior authorization from the judge or magistrate supervising that place, subject to Rule 1:19's separate provisions for registered news media.

Evidence excerpt: No person shall take any photographs, or make any recording or transmission by electronic means, in any courtroom, hearing room, office, chambers or lobby of a judge or magistrate without prior authorization

[Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:19: Electronic access to the courts](https://www.mass.gov/supreme-judicial-court-rules/supreme-judicial-court-rule-119-electronic-access-to-the-courts)
Source checked: 2026-07-26


## Sources

- [Official profile](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4736/geraldine-hines/)
- [Official roster](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4736/geraldine-hines/)
- [Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court current judicial profile](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4736/geraldine-hines/)
- [Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:19: Electronic access to the courts](https://www.mass.gov/supreme-judicial-court-rules/supreme-judicial-court-rule-119-electronic-access-to-the-courts)
- [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4736/geraldine-hines/)
- [Geraldine S. Hines - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Geraldine_S._Hines)
- [Wikidata: Geraldine Hines](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17386048)

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