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.

INVESTITURE CEREMONY
Continued

From the district bench we have the Honorable Laura Barnard from Lapeer, 71A District Court, Marylin Atkins, 36th District Court in Detroit, Susan Jonas from the 58th District Court in Ottawa County.

From the Michigan Legislature, a representative, Mick Middaugh, who I believe is up there in the balcony, Representative Alan Cropsey, is he with us? And Senator John Schwarz.

Our new Secretary of State Candice Miller is with us today. Douglas Roberts, State Treasurer of the state of Michigan; Patricia Woodworth, Director of the Michigan Department of Management and Budget; Norm Shinkle, Chairman of the Tax Tribunal, Michigan Department of Treasury; and Ed Wyszynski, Chairman of the Appellate Board, Worker’s Compensation, are also with us.

Margaret Chiara, Prosecutor of Cass County, I understand, was to be here today; Patrick Shannon, Prosecutor of Chippewa County; and Virginia Watson, Clerk of Grand Traverse County.

Corbin Davis, Clerk of the Supreme Court, and Ella Williams, Clerk of the Court of Appeals are both here today.

Also Muriel O’Leary, Allegan County Commissioner. Nice to have you with us.
Any others I have omitted, I apologize. Welcome to you all. Thank you so much for coming today.

CHIEF JUSTICE BRICKLEY: Thanks, Don. A woman who now lives in Florida played a great role in the Michigan Supreme Court in the history of this state. She was the first woman to come to our Court, the first probate judge to come to our Court, but, maybe even more importantly than all of that, she played a very important role in the person that we are swearing in today.

I have the privilege of reading a letter that she sent to Betty, which I think says so much.

Dear Betty, it is with deepest regret that I cannot be with you as you take the oath of office as a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

It will be a turning point in your life unlike your other judicial experience. Your own background will bring a new perspective to the membership, as has each justice. Your personal work with neglected, abused and delinquent children will be especially valuable. There is no substitute for every-day challenges of a broad spectrum of decisions which must be made concerning some of life’s most basic problems. I think the nation has belatedly realized that early intervention is the key solution of crime as we know it.

I know that you will be an asset to the Court in many ways. You have demonstrated intelligence and commitment to excellence in all phases of your life. I recall that you were valedictorian in high school, then on to Phi Beta Kappa, and then Tulane Law Review editor and Order of the Coif.

Your judicial experience on the Probate and Juvenile Court and on the Court of Appeals was outstanding. Your leadership abilities as chair or president of important facets of our state life has been impressive. There is sound reasoning for my full confidence in you as a justice.

Few people realize the broad extent of responsibilities which the Michigan Constitution places upon the third branch of government. The “One Court of Justice” mandate has not yet been fully realized. The obligation of “superintending control” over all Michigan courts, and to a large extent, over the legal profession as a whole remains an awesome challenge.

However, I know that you will meet your challenges with intelligence, plus common sense. Also I feel confident that you will look into the future as you and the Court submit decisions of precedent. I expect the Supreme Court will become a part of you so long as you live, as it has with me. It is the Keystone of justice in Michigan.

Best wishes,

Mary S. Coleman, Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court (Retired).

CHIEF JUSTICE BRICKLEY: We know she is very proud of you, Betty. Now, I will ask MAURA CORRIGAN to come forward for a few remarks.

JUDGE CORRIGAN: May it please the Court, Justices BRICKLEY and LEVIN, family and friends of Betty WEAVER, public officials who have gathered here today, on this happiest of New Years in 1995, I have the signal honor of moving that the oath of office be administered to ELIZABETH ANN WEAVER, as the people of Michigan have willed by their votes this past November.

It falls to me to tell you something about my friend, Betty WEAVER, who takes this oath of office today. In case you all wondered, I wanted to let you know that there really is only one Betty WEAVER. I heard repeatedly on the campaign trail from people around the state—because on occasion I called myself surrogate Betty WEAVER—I heard that there must be more than one Betty WEAVER because that woman was everywhere, and indeed she was. I know you will permit me a story from the campaign trail.

My husband and I attended a reception, and we arrived in the parking lot the same time that the Governor arrived and the then Judge WEAVER’s van arrived in the parking lot. I want to let you know that the Governor made a beeline for the reception, but Judge WEAVER went after the hapless and unwitting voters that happened to be parking their cars in the parking lot as well. So she cornered every eligible voter in every part of the state. That tells you a little about Betty WEAVER, the campaigner. There is only one Betty WEAVER and she is a singular woman.

Of course, you all know that Betty has twenty years experience as a probate and appellate judge. She will be the fourth of the sitting justices of the Michigan Supreme Court who have served as Court of Appeals judges. But she will only be the sixth of the fifty-five judges who have ever served on the Court of Appeals to join the Michigan Supreme Court.

(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