Burlington Councilor Resigns Following Judicial Appointment

Updated on December 2, 2024.

Burlington City Councilor Tim Doherty (D-East District) has resigned his seat after Gov. Phil Scott named him as one of four new state judges.

Doherty will serve a rotating judgeship on Vermont Superior Court, the state’s trial court system, according to the governor’s announcement on Wednesday. Later that same day, Doherty announced in a Front Porch Forum post that he would be resigning from the Burlington City Council “effective immediately.”

“I am humbled and profoundly grateful for this opportunity to serve Vermont and look forward to this new phase of my career,” he wrote.

Doherty did not respond to an interview request. He has practiced law for more than 20 years and was working for the prominent Burlington law firm Downs Rachlin Martin. Previously, Doherty worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Vermont and clerked for two federal judges.

Voters elected Doherty in 2023 to represent the East District, which encompasses Wards 1 and 8. His two-year term was set to expire this spring.

The seat will remain vacant until Town Meeting Day in March, the mayor’s office confirmed, citing the Burlington City Charter. With Doherty’s resignation, Democrats still retain a narrow effective majority on the council, with five seats and an ally in North District independent Mark Barlow. Progressives hold the other five seats. Scott announced three other judicial appointments on Wednesday:

Bonnie Badgewick, president of the Vermont Bar Foundation
Dana DiSano, criminal prosecutor in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office
Laura Rowntree, civil division chief in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office

Scott’s office touted the governor’s effort to improve gender parity in the judiciary. Half of his appointees have been women, who now make up nearly 40 percent of superior court judges in the state, his office said.