About Justice Weaver

Throughout Justice Elizabeth "Betty" Weaver's over 32 years of experience as a trial and appellate judge (Probate/Juvenile, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court), including 2 years as Chief Justice, she has maintained a proven record based on these major practices:
Exercising Judicial Restraint
Applying Common Sense

A fundamental tenet of her stand for jusitice is to hold wrong-doers accountable and responsible for their actions, while providing opportunities for them to discover and develop their own self-worth and to become law-abiding, productive citizens.

In exercising judicial restraint (interpreting, not making, the law -- judicial self-discipline), Justice Weaver has followed the law as constitutionally passed by the legislature and consistent with the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court. She has used the responsibility of interpretation, not as a sword to superimpose her own personal views (or those of special interest groups) on the law, but as a shield to protect the constitutional rights of the people and the constitutional acts of the legislative and executive branches.

Click here to read Michigan Court of Appeals Judge, Donald S. Owens’s Remarks as Presenter at the Induction of Justice Weaver into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame on October 25, 2005.

Click here to read Justice Weaver’s Remarks upon her Induction into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.

Press Release - 6/10/2005

Press Release - 1/13/2005

In November 2002, Justice Weaver won re-election for a second 8-year term on the Michigan Supreme Court.
This site provides information about her experience, credentials, principles, and major initiatives for the State of Michigan.

Check this site often for up-to-date press releases and other information about important work going on in the Supreme Court of Michigan.

Supreme Court Names First in New Series of Trial Court Innovation Projects

Lansing, 9/28/00 -- Trial courts in Oakland, Muskegon, and Cheboygan counties will join seven successful experiments in making local courts more efficient and user friendly as the first members of the Michigan Supreme Court's Next Generation Project, Chief Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver announced today.

Courts in those counties will seek innovative ways to improve service to the public while preserving the fair, impartial, and unbiased adjudication of cases. The courts are the first of up to 12 planned for the project, which the Supreme Court launched in August. The Legislature approved $2.3 million for the project in June.

"Change is hard. But the vast majority of the judges in this state are eager to embrace it in order to improve public service," Chief Justice Weaver told a joint session of the Legislature in her State of the Judiciary message at the Capitol Building.

Innovations in the Next Generation courts could lead to:

• Consolidation of court functions to eliminate costly bureaucratic duplication;
• One stop shopping for the public;
• Better computer technology;
• More efficient use of judge and staff time;
• Improved collection of fines and costs;
• More predictable and efficient case scheduling; and
• On-line transactions and information.

The courts will follow the path cut by the Supreme Court's seven original experimental demonstration projects launched since 1996. The projects are located in the counties of Barry, Berrien, Iron, Isabella, Lake, Washtenaw, and the multicounty circuit of Crawford, Kalkaska, and Otsego.

"These first demonstration courts have proved that when it comes to court improvement in 83 counties ranging in size from approximately 1,000 people to 2 million, 'one size does not fit all,'" Chief Justice Weaver said.

The Next Generation courts will capitalize on local creativity to develop service solutions, the Chief Justice said. Their goal is to help determine which solutions might be beneficial to all trial courts; which should be optional; and which should be subject to local customizing.

(Continued)

"What we in the judiciary most need is patience, meekness, compassion, and courage to 'Do Right and Fear Not.'"
Chief Justice Weaver
State of the Judiciary

"She is bringing a fresh, dedicated, incisive mind to the Michigan Supreme Court."
Judge Myron Wahls
Court of Appeals

"I know Betty Weaver. She threw me in jail....But I would vote for her, because she...straightened me out, and the sentence was just."
Former convicted juvenile offender

"Your judicial experience...was outstanding. Your leadership abilities...have been impressive. There is sound reasoning for my full confidence in you as a justice."
Mary S. Coleman
Chief Justice 1978-82

Judge Weaver has been recognized in many ways for her public service, including selection as one of five outstanding young women in Michigan by the Michigan Jaycees. It is a pleasure for myself to recognize Judge Weaver as a capable and devoted public servant.
G. Mennen Williams
Chief Justice 1982-86