Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court nominee Elizabeth “Bessie” Dewar is not a judge, has never been a judge, and is too young for her age to go without mention or discussion, several members of the Governor’s Council told the high court nominee.

Despite those qualifications, during a hearing on her appointment to the state’s top judicial body held on Wednesday, Dewar’s remarkable career as an attorney, law clerk, and state solicitor seemed enough to convince the eight elected members of the executive council that Gov. Maura Healey’s pick for the post is a good one.

“You have to tell me…why I’m going to vote for someone who was three years old when I started practicing law — so help me out with that — and who has never been a judge?” Councilor Terry Kennedy asked.

“I’m already voting for you,” Kennedy immediately added. “But answer the question anyway.”

Dewar, 43, was nominated by Healey after Justice Elspeth Cypher announced she would retire early in 2024. If her nomination is successful – as her cordial reception seemed to indicate will be the case – she’ll be able to sit on the court for nearly 27 years before she reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.

She said the questions about her age are “absolutely fair.”

“I thought about this question a lot myself in considering whether to apply when this opportunity unexpectedly came up,” Dewar said. “I thought that I wanted to serve and that I would bring to the court a lot of relevant experience that could help the court, and so I applied.”

The choice of whom to appoint to the state’s highest court is one of the most consequential a governor is tasked with making, Healey said during the about seven minutes of testimony she offered to start the hearing. After working with Dewar during her time as the Attorney General, Healey said the state solicitor has a “fierce intelligence” and that she was a “trusted counselor.”

“I’ve had the privilege to work closely with her – in the trenches, so to speak,” Healey said. “I can tell you, from professional and personal experience, what a tremendous asset this nominee will be to our court.”

Besides the governor, three others spoke in favor of Dewar’s candidacy, two law colleagues and a member of the Attorney General’s office staff: long-serving receptionist Gen Teixeira.

Dewar, an admittedly nervous Teixeira told the Council, is the kind of person who always offers other people “acknowledgment.”

“I find her honest, kind, and respectful,” she said. “Would I find her impartial and fair? Yes; and I would add authentic and amazing. I think the Commonwealth, the citizens of Massachusetts, deserve a Bessie Dewar.”

Besides a man who told the Governor’s Council he would testify against Dewar’s appointment to the court but instead spoke mostly against the SJC itself, decrying its apparent inability to address his concerns around joint custody laws, none spoke against the state solicitor joining the court.

Several councilors, though they did not vote at Wednesday’s meeting, said outright that they intended to approve her appointment. A vote on Dewar’s nomination could occur as soon as next week.

Dewar was a law clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary, including at one point for former U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. She’s worked as an appellate and trial lawyer and as a civil rights advocate.

She’s been state solicitor since her appointment to the role by then Attorney General Healey in 2016, where she advises the AG’s staff on when to appeal court decisions and when to file amicus briefs, doing much of her work with the SJC.

Her nomination was announced after Healey formed a Supreme Judicial Nominating Commission in search of new jurists to replace two of the court’s seven members, both of whom are retiring. Applications are still being accepted to fill the seat soon to be vacated by Associate Justice David Lowy.

Dewar, a Jamaica Plain resident and mother of two, is a graduate of Harvard University, Yale Law, and Cambridge College.

Herald wire services contributed.