---
title: "Scott L. Kafker | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/scott-l-kafker-ma-supreme-judicial-court"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-08-22"
---

# Scott L. Kafker

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · Associate Justice

## Profile

- Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
- State: Massachusetts
- Role: Associate Justice
- Service status: active
- Last verified: 2026-08-22

## Summary

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

## 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.mass.gov/info-details/supreme-judicial-court-justices)
- [Official roster](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/supreme-judicial-court-justices)
- [Massachusetts Court System official judicial roster](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/supreme-judicial-court-justices)
- [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)

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## Biography

### Professional career

- Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), the state’s highest appellate court, appointed by Governor Charlie Baker on August 21, 2017 to replace retiring Justice Geraldine Hines
- Appointed July 22, 2015, by Governor Charlie Baker (Chief Justice of the Appeals Court)
- He clerked for Justice Charles L. Levin of the Michigan Supreme Court and Judge Mark L. Wolf of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

### Education

- University of Chicago Law School — J.D. (1985)
- Amherst College — B.A. (1981)

### Additional information

- He held the role of deputy chief legal counsel to Governor William F. Weld (1991–1993) and chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Port Authority (1993–2001)
- Kafker was born April 24, 1959 in Corning, New York.
- After law school, Kafker joined Foley, Hoag & Eliot in Boston as an associate.
- Law Review, University of Chicago Law School



## Published courtroom rules

### Shared court rules

- [Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:19: Electronic access to the courts](https://knowjudges.com/courtroom-rules/national-shared-set-20acbd9da185f40e1f10b2b2) — Scope is limited to the court class in the source claim.  Shared court context only; case-type restrictions, exceptions, later amendments and case orders apply. This is not a personal preference or a complete rules inventory. [Official source](https://www.mass.gov/supreme-judicial-court-rules/supreme-judicial-court-rule-119-electronic-access-to-the-courts). Collected 2026-07-26.