Judicial career

Justice Borden received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

 in 1959 and his Bachelor of Laws

Bachelor of Laws

The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 degree from Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 in 1962. Upon graduating, he entered private practice in Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...

 in 1962 and continued until 1977.

Justice Borden played an important role in reforming the Connecticut judiciary, serving as executive director of the Commission to Revise the Criminal Statutes of the State of Connecticut from 1963 to 1971 and as principal architect of the 1969 Connecticut Penal Code. Judge Borden also served as Chief Counsel to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary (of the State of Connecticut), as judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1977 to 1978, and as judge of the Superior Court

Connecticut Superior Court

The Connecticut Superior Court is the Connecticut state trial court of general jurisdiction. It hears all matters other than those heard by the Connecticut Probate Courts...

 from 1978 to 1983. Additionally, he was president of the Connecticut Judges Association from 1981 to 1983.

In 1983, following a reorganization of the Connecticut court system, Justice Borden became one of the six original judges of the Connecticut Appellate Court. Seven years later, in 1990, he was nominated to the Connecticut Supreme Court by Governor William A. O'Neill, a position he held until his retirement in 2007.. Prior to his retirement, at the mandatory age of 70, Justice Borden was the Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, following the resignation of Chief Justice Sullivan, who stepped down after it was revealed he delayed the release of an unpopular decision regarding the state's Freedom of Information Commission http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR278/278CR144.pdf so that his chosen successor, Justice Zarrella, would be elevated to the Court's top position. As acting Chief Justice, Justice Borden formed the Public Access Task Force,http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/news/PATF_remarks_052506.pdf composed of judges, journalists, and attorneys to develop recommendations to ensure the Court's openness.http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/news/press201.htm Chief Justice Borden accepted most of the Task Force's recommendations,www.jud.ct.gov which have paved the way for an expanded transparency of court proceedings heretofore un-heard of in not only Connecticut, but in other state Supreme Courts. The Task Force was chaired by Justice Richard N. Palmer who co-authored with Chief Justice Borden a letter outlining their concerns about then-Chief Justice Sullivan's apparently deliberate decision to delay release of the FOI case, Clerk of GA7. Justice Borden authored a dissent in that opinion, joined by Justices Norcott and Katz http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR278/278CR144E.pdf

During his tenure as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, he chaired several committees charged with further revising the Connecticut penal system. From 1992 to 2001, he served as Chairperson of the Rules Committee of the Judges of the Superior Court. He was also Chairperson of the Connecticut Law Revision Commission Task Force which was responsible for codifying the Connecticut Law of Evidence. This codification was later adopted as Connecticut Evidence Code.

In addition to his duties as a Connecticut jurist, Justice Borden teaches at the University of Connecticut School of Law

University of Connecticut School of Law

The University of Connecticut School of Law is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. The school was recently ranked forty-sixth out of the 190 American Bar Association-accredited law schools in the United States and is considered a Tier 1 school by U.S...

 and has co-authored three books: Connecticut Criminal Jury Instructions, Superior Court Criminal Rules, and Connecticut Criminal Law.

One notable decision Justice Borden authored was State v. Cobb (251 Conn. 285, 1999). There the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld Sedrick Cobb's death sentence for the 1989 sexual assault and murder of Julia Ashe in Waterbury against a total of forty-five challenges. The Connecticut Supreme Court also upheld the sentence despite Justice Robert I. Berdon's angry dissent where he made a revelation about the Court's conference-specifically, Justice Berdon claimed that the Court had failed to engage in its statutorily-mandated duty to determine if sentences were the product of untoward passion. In Footnote 103 of the opinion, Justice Borden, Chief Justice Robert Callahan, Justice Ellen Ash Peters, Justice Edward Y. O'Connell AND dissenting Justices Flemming Norcott and Joette Katz excoriated Justice Berdon for violating the confidence of the Court Conference.

Justice Borden is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and screens criminal cases for transfer to the Supreme Court.