In a stunning development, New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon J. MacDonald announced Friday he is taking a medical leave from his job, effective immediately.
Out of respect for his personal privacy, court officials said no further information would be released “at this time.”
The four remaining judges, Senior Associate Justice Patrick E. Donovan along with Justices Melissa Countway, Bryan Gould and Daniel Will, said they will continue to prepare for the court’s next session that includes oral arguments on cases, which resume Sept. 22.
“The members of the New Hampshire Supreme Court are united in wishing Chief Justice MacDonald a full and speedy recovery,” the justices said in a joint statement.
Until this decision, MacDonald, 64, had been fully engaged as the judicial system’s chief administrator.
The chief justice can hold this position until Nov. 27, 2031, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.
MacDonald recently returned from attending the annual Conference of Chief Justices in Rapid City, South Dakota, with Court Administrator Chris Keating.
Sworn into the job in March 2021, MacDonald quickly moved up the ranks of that national organization.
He is now president-elect, which would put him in line to lead the organization in 2027.
MacDonald is also, in conjunction with the National Center for State Courts, chairman of the Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform — a 12-person panel that spent two years examining the current state of legal education in the U.S. and issued a landmark report in 2025.
“Every day in our circuit court, up to 90 percent of the people on one or both sides of the ‘v’ in civil matters are self-represented,” MacDonald said in releasing the report. “That’s happening in all the states. We have legal deserts in the North Country, and we face challenges in public interest law — including public defenders, prosecutors, and civil legal aid. I wouldn’t prioritize one over the other; they’re all part of a whole that stakeholders need to address.”
A leading litigator before becoming AG
MacDonald grew up in Hanover and earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and his law degree from Cornell University.
For four years, MacDonald served as attorney general before GOP Gov. Chris Sununu nominated him for the high court. The Executive Council confirmed MacDonald, and he was sworn into the job in March 2021.
This was the second bid by Sununu to put him there.
Under Democratic control, the Executive Council rejected MacDonald as the choice, 3-2, in July 2019. When the 2020 election flipped the council to a 4-1 Republican advantage, Sununu moved quickly to resubmit MacDonald’s name.
Prior to serving as AG, MacDonald was a litigation partner in the Manchester office of Nixon Peabody.
Judicial scrutiny on the rise
MacDonald and the court have faced increased scrutiny from some lawmakers and from judicial conduct officials, but there’s no evidence this leave announcement is connected to those ongoing issues.
The Judicial Conduct Commission (JCC) last spring confirmed that retired state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi remained under its investigation for misconduct.
Hantz Marconi, 70, stepped down from the bench Feb. 12 when she reached the mandatory retirement age for judges.
Members of the JCC said the panel had restarted its probe of Hantz Marconi last October after she pleaded no contest to a criminal misdemeanor regarding a meeting she had with then-Gov. Sununu in which she discussed the criminal probe against her husband, retired Director of Ports and Harbors Geno Marconi.
Following her arrest, Hantz Marconi told investigators she received permission from MacDonald to approach the governor before meeting with him.
In his own interview with state prosecutors, however, MacDonald said he didn’t remember that conversation taking place.
Hantz Marconi paid a $1,200 fine and a short time later got back her license to practice law and was permitted to return to the high court.
The JCC said it restarted the probe two days after Hantz Marconi had entered her plea.
Geno Marconi, 74, of Stratham, pleaded guilty to misusing motor vehicle information regarding Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the Pease Development Authority, by giving it to then-Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council Chairman Bradley Cook.
Marconi was fined $2,000 and given a 30-day county jail sentence, suspended on good behavior.
He then stepped down from the position at the port for which he had been on leave since the criminal investigation had begun.
Unusual but legal payout deal
MacDonald has also faced criticism from some conservative corners in the Legislature for his role in an unusual but legal deal that allowed Dianne Martin, a former chief of staff of his, to be laid off, rehired at a different job and paid nearly $50,000 in leave and other benefits.
A whistleblower told the Department of Justice that Keating, who replaced Martin as chief administrator of the Office of the Courts, said MacDonald approved and ordered her to process this arrangement.
“He (Keating) looked at me and said you need to do what I’m telling you to do, this is coming from the chief, make it happen,” the whistleblower said during an interview with Attorney General John Formella’s investigators.
The whistleblower told prosecutors Keating terminated her one month short of completing six months as a probationary employee.
“He said that my behavior was not professional and that I was a disgrace,” the whistleblower said.
The Union Leader first reported that all three other Supreme Court justices sitting on the bench at that time said they were involved jointly with MacDonald in making these personnel moves regarding Martin and Keating.
Martin was laid off from her job as the $143,800-a-year administrative director, effective April 1. She had been relieved of that job Feb. 28, but she was kept on paid leave until the later date.
On April 4, Martin started work as general counsel to the Office of Bar Admissions, which reviews all applications from lawyers seeking a license to practice in New Hampshire, a job that pays $154,000 annually.
The Supreme Court oversees that bar application process.
Martin was chief of staff when MacDonald was attorney general.
There’s been no public confirmation that MacDonald’s actions in this matter were the subject of JCC review.