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.

Chief Justice Weaver's State of the Judiciary Message 9/28/00
Continued

The key to protecting our elderly and incapacitated will be found at the local level, where the needs and resources of each community are best known and where the problems are faced daily. To accomplish the second goal of enabling the Ombudsman to investigate complaints, your support will be needed. The Guardianship Ombudsman we appoint today -- the right man for the job -- can serve for only 12 months. His ability to respond to the individual concerns of your constituents will be limited.

To give Michigan citizens the benefit of a permanent Ombudsman with the power to ferret out abuse, it will be necessary to fund the position and a small staff of investigators. In 1993 you established a precedent for such action by creating the Office of Children's Ombudsman. Adults with guardians and conservators deserve the same attention.

Fortunately, we have as our first Guardianship Ombudsman a widely recognized authority in the field with 25 years of experience as a Michigan probate judge. Nationally-known expert and Yale Law School professor John Langbein has called him "the ablest probate judge in the United States ... a superstar." I am grateful that he has agreed to accept the challenge of this appointment, especially because it will temporarily take him away from some of his duties on the Court of Appeals. It is with great pleasure that I announce Michigan's first Guardianship Ombudsman, Judge Donald Owens.

The Next Generation Project, the drug courts, and the Guardianship Ombudsman represent new frontiers of court service for Michigan citizens. We cannot forget, however, some business left undone that is equally vital to the well-being of the system. Indeed, expectations are already high. Now the needs must be met.

Primary among these items is an innovation of great promise that you enacted in 1996: the family division of circuit court. In some counties the family division has already registered significant improvement in service delivery and increased public satisfaction. But in others, the process of change has been slower, and harder. Much work remains to be done.

One major stumbling block everywhere is that the family division can operate only because the Supreme Court, pursuant to the 1996 legislation, is assigning probate judges to serve as circuit judges within the division. Ultimately, we must complete the family division by adopting a constitutional amendment assuring that the judges who serve in the family division belong to the circuit court and are not serving there simply by assignment.

At the same time, we must take great care to protect the very specialized nature of probate, estates, and mental health code work, as well as the guarantee that each county's citizens can elect exclusively at least one resident judge. We must ensure that whatever other structural or operational changes might be made, enough judges and staff are dedicated to probate work, within their own separate division or 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