Justice Melissa A. Long

Hon. Melissa A. Long is an associate justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. She was appointed to the seat by former Governor Gina Raimondo in 2020, becoming the first African-American to serve on the court. Long filled the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Francis X. Flaherty (Ret.).

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Since her appointment, the state’s five-member Supreme Court has had a historic female majority.

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Prior to her elevation to the Supreme Court, she presided as an associate justice for the Rhode Island Superior Court after receiving an appointment by then-Governor Raimondo in 2017.

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Before beginning her judicial career, Long was deputy secretary of state in the Rhode Island Department of State and senior legal counsel and Title VI Coordinator with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

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She received a B.A. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia in 1992. Long went on to complete a J.D. at George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School in 1995. She was admitted to practice in Virginia (1995) and Rhode Island (1999).

 

After graduating from law school, Long began her legal career as a law clerk for the Hon. Marcus D. Williams in Fairfax County, Virginia. Upon completing her clerkship, she handled child abuse and neglect cases in Fairfax County before relocating to Rhode Island. Long then spent time in the appellate division of the Rhode Island Public Defender’s Office before joining the state’s transportation department.

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An Army brat, Long and her family lived in Germany, Texas, South Korea, and Northern Virginia. Her father was an Army dentist, and her mother worked as a registered nurse.

 

Long and her husband, Ted, have three children.