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

I said: Just can’t I see it to the end? The answer was no. I had to leave and I never knew what happened in that adventure, and I went home. Those were the kind of values that my honest, good parents shared with us and demanded of us. We didn’t always think they were our friends, but they were our parents, and I am grateful to have known them and that they did have fifty years, as I mentioned.

Now, as I formally am vested with the office of Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, I am humbled by the trust that you and the people of Michigan have invested in me.

I am keenly aware of the responsibility assumed, the challenges to be faced and met, and the opportunity to make a positive difference for the individual, the judiciary, and the state.

My promise is, as my parents said, to do my very best. To continue to work, to help the judiciary to fulfill its important role of aiding in seeing that every individual understands, he (or she) is accountable and responsible for his actions. That every individual has the opportunity to discover and develop a conscious sense of his own worth.

As I assume this important office, my prayer today is that of the Psalmist, “Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.”

Thank you all so very much for coming. We have a reception, and I understand that I now get to exercise the prerogative of a justice of the Court by using this gavel and closing this session of Court, and the reception is now on.

(End of Investiture Ceremony)

"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