The Supreme Judicial Court returned to the issue earlier this month in a case involving a Dorchester District Court judge’s denial of an expungement request by a defendant for two sets of records involving possession of small quantities of marijuana dating back more than 15 years.

Katy Naples-Mitchell of Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Maintaining a false record furthers no legitimate judicial interest and is harmful to the Appellant’s ability to gain meaningful employment” — one of the “collateral consequences” the 2018 law was intended to address.