Ellen Ash Peters, first female chief justice of Connecticut Supreme Court, dies at 94

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Ellen Ash Peters, who was the first woman to serve as Connecticut’s chief justice and wrote the majority opinion in the state Supreme Court’s landmark school desegregation ruling in 1996, has died. She was 94.

Peters, who also was the first female faculty member at Yale Law School, passed away Tuesday, according to the Connecticut Judicial Branch. The cause and location of her death were not immediately disclosed.

“What a trailblazer she was!” the current chief justice, Richard Robinson, said in a statement. “While small in stature, she was a fearless legal giant who was dedicated to upholding the rule of law. She also recognized the importance of fairness, openness, transparency and providing true equal access to justice for all.”

Peters was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1978 by then-Gov. Ella Grasso, a Democrat and the first woman who was not a spouse or widow of a former governor to be elected the governor of a U.S. state. Peters was also the first woman to serve on the state’s highest court. She became chief justice in 1984, served on the court until 1996 and later took part-time senior status.