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
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Asked also how she views mandatory minimum sentencing laws, Weaver said, "I don't think they are a good idea. I'm not sure they serve the purpose," she said.

That much said, the justice said she is not in favor of a statewide ballot question that eliminated mandatory minimum penalties swings too far in the other direction. Weaver said the fine print in what seems like a reasonable ballot proposal requires, among other things, that first-time drug offenders be automatically sent into "drug court," a treatment alternative.

She said the mandatory treatment provision of the ballot issue flies too far in the other direction, when some or most first-time drug offenders have no interest in changing habits or professions.

"That will take away the ability of a judge to use jail time," she said, adding that jail time may be an effective means of getting an offender's attention.

She said often people enmeshed in the drug culture need a wake-up call or consequences before they are ready to accept an alternative way of living.

The justice refused to comment on a recent circuit court ruling in Cheboygan County, where a Wolverine school official convicted of embezzling $110,000 from the cash-strapped public schools was sentenced to a light 11-month stay in the county jail, restitution of a small fraction of her ill-gotten gain and probation.

She said she cannot comment because that case may yet find its way to the Supreme Court on appeal.

Weaver declined to directly answer another question on personal grounds.

When asked her age, the affable justice said she is not in the habit of revealing that personal statistic. Amid some discussion back and forth, she held her ground on specifics then added, "I admit to being over 60 but I'm not old enough to retire," she said.

"You can retire at 62 you know."

First elected to the non-partisan Michigan Supreme Court in 1995, Weaver served as Chief Justice of the high court from 1999 to 2001. She seeks another eight-year term on the state's highest court in the November election.

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"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