The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts issued an order requiring the Office of the Attorney General to make a final determination within 30 days regarding representation in the ongoing dispute over the State Auditor’s authority to examine legislative records.
The Court’s order directs the Attorney General to decide whether her office will represent State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, and whether it will continue to seek the striking of the complaint Auditor DiZoglio filed in connection with efforts to audit the State Legislature.
“The people of Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly for transparency and accountability in state government,” Auditor DiZoglio said after the order came down. “This order moves the process forward and ensures the Attorney General must finally make a determination regarding legal representation so the public’s interest is prioritized. We are very grateful to the Supreme Judicial Court members for their timely decision.”
“We are very pleased with the SJC’s order,” added Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represented the Auditor before the SJC. “We hope to hear from the Attorney General that she will withdraw her motion to strike the complaint so that this important case can move forward, so that we may seek to enforce the will of the People.”
“The SJC’s order affirms that our office has provided the AGO with all the information it needs and the AGO cannot indefinitely frustrate the public’s interest in auditing the Legislature, as mandated by 72% of voters,” said Michael Leung-Tat, General Counsel for the Office of the State Auditor.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell responded to the order with a post on her Facebook page, indicating she will comply with the wishes of the court.
“I’m pleased to share that the Auditor has provided the SJC with the clarity and commitments my office has been seeking — and that the court has entered an order holding her to those representations,” Campbell wrote. “We’ll comply with the court’s order expeditiously.”
Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot question in 2024 specifically giving the Auditor’s Office the authority to audit the State Legislature. To date, both the House and Senate have failed to comply with the law and the AG has yet to take action.
4 responses to “SJC Order Gives AG Campbell 30 Days to Decide on Representation in Legislative Audit Case”
So the Supreme Judicial Court is basically pressuring a resolution to this never ending CONSTITUTIONAL battle. Because in the end, THEY will have to ultimately rule on the CONSTITUTIONAL question of whether the Auditor has the authority to “compel a non-consenting Legislature to submit to an audit”, REGARDLESS of the ballot vote, because a “popular law” cannot override CONSTITUTIONAL structures like the separation of powers.
On ANOTHER very IMPORTANT issue:
In many communities like Chelmsford and Dracut, getting residents to attend Town Mtg, is ALWAYS a challenge because many residents, especially parents of young children and people that have to work, are unable to attend in person.
I understand that House Bill 2274 in the 2025-2026 Massachusetts Legislative session, that is sponsored by Rep. Carmine Gentile, aims to address this by authorizing remote or hybrid participation in open town meetings, which are currently legally required to be in-person only. The bill will modernize and enable towns to adopt virtual access, allowing parents, residents with disabilities, or those with caregiving responsibilities, or scheduling conflicts the ability to participate via phone or the internet.
Right now, the bill has been referred to the Municipalities and Regional Government Committee, though some reports say it will face challenges moving forward. As of March 2026, the bill has been tabled. But some advocates want a pilot program instead that would give up to five towns the ability to experiment with the format first. This could be a solution to engaging more residents in THEIR government!
Currently, only representative town meetings have PERMANENT legal authorization for remote/hybrid formats. H.2274 will EXTEND this local option to the roughly 250 towns that use open town meetings, where every registered voter has the right to attend and vote.
Governor Maura Healey signed a separate extension in March 2025 that permits general remote public meetings and hearings through June 30, 2027, though this “stopgap” does not PERMANENTLY address the unique legal requirements of open town meetings that H.2274 will.
This is just an off topic FYI that I feel compelled to post, and felt this was the best place to post it.
I went on OCPF website, which basically lists all the contributors names to the various candidates running for office. If you all recall in a past posting, I was very upset that Mr Gitschier had misspelled my name on his contribution page, and he just shrugged it off and put it on his “campaign treasurer”. NOT believing him, I checked on Councilor Robinson’s page, at that time, because they share the same “campaign treasurer” and my name was spelled CORRECTLY. Well guess what, I now find that it is misspelled on Corey Robinson’s page. WHY is that all of a sudden ??? So I have decided that someone that is sooo CONTROLLED by “that man” in order to hurt me is NOT someone that I would ever support!