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

A few of you know, initially I held some reluctance to hold this investiture ceremony today. But when I thought of it not so much as an investing of high office upon me, but rather an opportunity to publicly express my gratitude to you for investing your trust, your time, your effort, and your resources upon me, I gladly went forward, for indeed I do want to thank you.

I wish it were possible, or, rather, practical for me to individually name each and every one of you here today and those who cannot be here, and put on public record my gratitude for all you have done to bring us to this moment today. But that would take not minutes or hours, but days, and I would break my campaign promise “not to keep you long.” Rather than naming a few names and leaving out many, please each of you take this moment to see me looking at you only and saying: Thank you.

There are two individuals who have been gone from this earth for quite awhile, that I know you will agree I must especially mention, they are my mother and father, or, as their southern daughter called them, my momma and my dad.

Though neither had the opportunity to receive even a high school diploma, they provided, during their fifty years of marriage, abundant opportunity and guidance, so as to see their two sons become Ph.D. chemical engineers and their daughter become a judge.

I am continually grateful to them for their love, the guidance, the support, and the values they gave to us. And please allow me to share two examples with you, particularly since there are some children here.

When I was in very early elementary school, a friend of mine said to me one day that her parents were giving her $5.00 for every A. (That’s when a coke was a nickel and bread was 15 cents, so that was a lot of money.) I thought, great, because I had all A’s. So I went home and told my parents that this is what I had heard and what a great idea it was. I was looking forward to receiving about $25 or 30, $50.

My parents just very easily said, no, that wasn’t the way it was, that we were to do our best. We weren’t to be paid for doing our best, that the reward was in the doing. So I, of course, accepted it.

One other time—I lived before television, and our family did not get television early—but one family on the block in New Orleans did, and I would go down and watch the Lone Ranger on television on Thursday night at 7:00, Kay Kyser came on after it, see how I remember that. I always whipped through my homework—this is when I was older—and my mother checked my work and she found that it wasn’t done up to those high standards that you have heard mentioned.

So she called the neighbor’s, and I was to get to the phone, which I did, and it was right in the middle of a very important part of the Lone Ranger. I picked up the phone and my mother said I was to come home and do my homework immediately; it wasn’t done correctly.

(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