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.

Affable Supreme Court Justice at Home in Upper Peninsula
By Jack Storey
Sault Ste. Marie Evening News 8/26/02
Reprinted with permission

SAULT STE. MARIE -- Unusual for a statewide political candidate, sitting Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver says she is right at home in the Upper Peninsula.

When Weaver speaks of the U.P., it is not, like so many other political candidates from a few trips to Mackinac Island that she speaks of Michigan's better half.

"I can actually spell Gogebic ... And I know that Gogebic is in Ontonagon, not Gogebic County," she said on a campaign trip through Sault Ste. Marie last week.

A former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice, Justice Weaver acknowledges that judges are "politicians," ..."But we're non-partisan," the affable Justice said.

This lady is no distant high court judge making the grand tour of the state from atop some presumed judicial pedestal. More like a state house hopeful hustling votes in an uphill struggle for name recognition, Madame Justice Weaver arrived for an interview with identical "Weaver" stickers on both shoulders.

Riding in the company of vacationing Probate Judge Lowell Ulrich, the Supreme Court Justice appeared to be right at home on the judicial campaign trail -- usually a dull affair lacking the substance and the verbal fireworks of a run for regular political office.

Like the experienced politician and justice she is, her interview started with the Justice giving her spiel. "People should realize that the Supreme Court administers all the state courts. We don't just hear (appellate) cases," she stated.

(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