Richard Sullivan

Richard Sullivan
Official portrait, 2020
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Makko Oko
Incumbent
Assumed office July 4th, 2020
Personal details
Born	May 14th, 1975 (52 years old)

Richard Sullivan (born May 14th, 1975) is a Makkonian lawyer who serves as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of Makko Oko. Sullivan was appointed to the court in the second round of Supreme Court appointments in 2020 a year after the end of the Civil Transition War which saw the republic be transformed into an empire and the judicial system be overhauled in its entirety. Sullivan is the only openly religious justice in the Giddens Court and the Gerlach Court, and is known in both courts for being heavy-handed, enough so to draw negative publicity on multiple rulings including Kramer Evans et al. v. Ministry of Internal Security, with the public calling him "politically and spiritually incorrect".

Early Life and Education

Sullivan was born and raised in Virjansk, New Ancapistan to an immigrant family from Peravên Far in Liberto-Ancapistan. He learned the rare Far dialect and the Santian language along with English. When he graduated secondary school and moved on to college, his language skills carried him far and wide, double majoring in diplomacy and legal studies, ultimately graduating summa cum laude from the prestigious Sunnoites College, which is also the first and oldest one in the nation. From there he would go on to get his masters degree in constitutional law, practicing as a paralegal at Richter & Mauer LLP to gain experience, finishing his degree in 1995.

Early Legal Career

After Sullivan got his masters and got his license to practice law, he would start working on his goals of being a judge, first by clerking for local judges such as William Garth who they would go on later to be justices on the Supreme Court from 1995 to 1999, when he would receive an offer of judgeship in the small city of Ckouhills, which he accepted. During his time as a judge of the Ckouhills courthouse, he heard all types of cases, as the city was small enough to only have one courthouse for all matters, and this experience helped carry him in 2004 to the position of Chief Prosecutor for Andorra la Vella, New Ancapistan where he would stay in until 2006 when he was promoted to be the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the capital city of Joria.

In 2009, he would move up to the national government and become the Deputy Solicitor General helping argue cases for the government that were not prosecutory. In 2011, he would leave to pursue private practice until two years later in 2014 when the President appointed him as the Solicitor General. In 2017, the Attorney General and Solicitor General positions were merged, and Sullivan received more authority.

Military Life

In 2018 after the start of the civil war, Sullivan got drafted to fight for the Army, ending up starting as a Cadet III as opposed to a Cadet I that most recruits start at due to his previous government work. He was on active duty for half a year until August 2019 when he got the option to get out early if he guarded important areas for the remainder of his contract, which would end up expiring at the end of the war just a month later. Sullivan left the army as a First Lieutenant however could not claim a pension or military benefits because the government and military he served under had collapsed and no longer existed.

Appointment to Supreme Court

In early 2020, Emperor Conall Solis was rumored to be considering additional appointments to the Supreme Court and that some individuals were on the shortlist of consideration. On March 5th, 2020, the rumors were confirmed when the shortlist was leaked to the press by mistake, and Sullivan was on it, along with Frances Sparks, William Garth and others. In June, Emperor Conall announced that appointment notices had been sent out to those accepted, however word on who was appointed was not known yet. By the end of the month, Sullivan publicly announced with the Emperor that he had been appointed as one of the justices, and his term was due to start July 4th. He was one of two justices appointed that year.

Supreme Court

Slavery

In Vanita Marissen v. Ministry of Diplomatic Affairs et al., Sullivan gave a dissenting opinion saying that slavery and the actions that the government took to enforce it, were legal under the doctrine of Christianity. The opinion is notable for openly shedding light on how religious Sullivan is.