Tufts petitioned the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts "to establish and maintain in Massachusetts The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy as a school in which instruction may be had in those subjects prescribed by the Department of State for qualification for the American foreign service which require graduate work, together with allied subjects of use and interest to the diplomat and international lawyer."On May 9, 1930, The Supreme Judicial Court decreed approval of Tufts' plan, stating that Tufts was "authorized and empowered" under Dr. Fletcher's will to apply his funds to "the establishment and maintenance of a school to be known as ‘The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy'."