Impeach Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald and the New Hampshire Supreme Court

By Jeffrey Thomas Clay

New Hampshire’s motto is “Live Free or Die.” But freedom cannot survive without transparency, accountability, and a judiciary committed to enforcing the law. Today, our state’s highest court has abandoned those duties. Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald and the associate justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court have allowed corruption and secrecy to flourish, disregarding decades of their own precedents and the state constitution itself. Their actions are not just legal errors—they are an assault on democracy. For this reason, impeachment is not only justified, it is necessary.

A Court That Refuses to Explain Itself

At the core of this crisis is the Court’s refusal to write an opinion in my case against the Town of Newmarket. The justices issued only a perfunctory order, denying my appeal without explanation. This silence is more than negligence. It is a dereliction of their constitutional duty to provide guidance, clarity, and accountability. When the state’s highest tribunal avoids reasoned opinions, it shields misconduct from scrutiny and leaves citizens without the transparency the Court itself demands of other branches.
The people of New Hampshire deserve to know why their rights are being denied. Instead, they were handed a blank page.

Applying the Wrong Standard of Review

The Court’s failures go beyond silence. They applied the wrong standard of review to my case, allowing Judge Andrew Schulman’s legally flawed opinion to stand unchallenged. Instead of conducting the independent, de novo review required in matters of statutory interpretation, the Supreme Court deferred to a lower court decision that ignored black-letter law.
Judge Schulman held—astonishingly—that a citizen can negotiate away constitutional and statutory Right-to-Know rights (RSA 91-A) in exchange for money. This is not only contrary to the text of the law, but contrary to decades of the Court’s own rulings. The justices should have corrected this abuse. Instead, they endorsed it, giving every public agency in New Hampshire a road map to burying corruption: offer taxpayer funds as hush money, and citizens lose their rights.

A Betrayal of Decades of Precedent

For generations, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has upheld the principle that the Right-to-Know law embodies: government belongs to the people. In Hampton Police Association v. Town of Hampton, Marrone v. Town of Hampton, Goode v. N.H. Legislative Budget Assistant, and countless other cases, the Court reaffirmed that government records cannot be concealed through private contracts, and that agreements violating public policy are void.
Yet MacDonald and his colleagues abandoned this precedent. They blessed an agreement created in secret, without minutes, without lawful approval, and beyond the authority of town officials or their attorneys. They turned their back on Article 8 of the New Hampshire Constitution, which guarantees accountability of public officers. And in doing so, they violated not only the law, but also public trust.

Sanctioning Criminal Conduct

The justices ignored clear violations of RSA 91-A and RSA 641, which criminalize the falsification and concealment of public records. They ignored the fact that Newmarket officials held illegal secret meetings, produced no minutes, and then lied about attorney-client privilege to cover their tracks. They ignored that town attorneys, instead of advising compliance with the law, orchestrated a contract designed to suppress access to records—something they had no authority to negotiate in the first place.
The Court’s message is unmistakable: public officials may conceal records, lie to tribunals, and pay citizens with taxpayer funds to look the other way. If this stands, Right-to-Know has no meaning.

Judges as Legislators, Not Jurists

In reality, MacDonald and his associates did not act as judges at all. They acted as legislators, inventing a new rule of law that says constitutional and statutory rights can be bargained away with money. This is not judicial interpretation. It is lawmaking. And in New Hampshire, judges are not empowered to legislate from the bench.

The Public Policy Crisis

The danger here is not limited to one case. If taxpayer funds can be used to silence whistleblowers and shield government misconduct, corruption will metastasize at every level of government. Town councils, school boards, and state agencies alike now have permission to bury records of fraud, negligence, and even crime—so long as they can write a check.
This violates every principle of public policy. It contradicts decades of case law holding that contracts contrary to transparency and accountability are void. It betrays the constitutional promise that government remains “open, accessible, accountable, and responsive.” And it erodes public trust in both government and the courts.

The Remedy: Impeachment

The New Hampshire Constitution provides only one remedy when judges violate their oaths and undermine the rule of law: impeachment. Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald and the associate justices have failed the people they swore to serve. They have silenced transparency, sanctioned bribery, and authorized corruption.
Impeachment is not a step to be taken lightly. But neither is permitting a judiciary that refuses to explain itself, applies the wrong standards, violates its own precedents, and invites corruption. The Legislature must act.
The people of New Hampshire will not accept a judiciary that allows their constitutional rights to be sold off with taxpayer dollars. We will not tolerate judges who place secrecy above openness, power above accountability, and silence above justice. The justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court have betrayed their oaths. For the sake of our democracy, they must be impeached.