A Governor’s Council meeting that featured approval of four new pardons took an unexpected turn Wednesday as one member persistently rebuked her colleagues before councilors across the room successfully moved to establish a new Rules Committee for the elected panel.

At the outset of the session, the Governor’s Council unanimously consented to the latest pardons recommended by Governor Maura Healey, granting forgiveness to four individuals -- Joanne Booth, Kenny Jean, Murphy Smith, and Evan Willey -- for convictions ranging from drunken driving to armed robbery between 1979 and 2016.

Local activists and political figures are voicing their opposition to a newly appointed Massachusetts Superior Court judge who has donated money to anti-abortion organizations and candidates, arguing that laws protecting abortion access are too fragile to allow Claudine Cloutier on the bench.

The Governor’s Council confirmed Cloutier, a partner at the personal injury firm Keches Law Group and a board member at the Foundation to Advance Catholic Education through the Diocese of Fall River, on July 20 after she fielded questions at a public hearing on Beacon Hill.

“Judges who are skilled at challenging law enforcement and identifying potential government overreach, rather than accustomed to prosecuting alleged wrongdoers and defending the power and practices of law enforcement, are judges who can be especially counted on to protect freedom and equal treatment for us all.”

Sadiq Reza is a lecturer at Boston University School of Law, clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Institute, professor emeritus at New York Law School, and a former public defender in Washington, D.C.