A Passion for Justice

Bostonia Magazine (BU alumni rag) ^ | winter 04/05 | Jean Hennelly keith

[palmer]

NOTE: URL is for previous issue, current issue is currently only on paper. I have typed in these excerpts and all spelling mistakes are mine. I also inserted a paragraph tag for readability.

A Passion for Justice

On and off the bench, Barbara Pariente (COM'70) chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, is extending the reach of justice.

by Jean Hennelly keith

When lawyers stand before Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Pariente, they'd best have their homework done. With a reputation for meticulous preparation, she scrutinizes oral arguments for precision and reason. Appointed a justice to the state Supreme Court seven years ago by Governer Lawton Chiles, she was sworn in as chief justice last July. During her tenure, Pariente (COM'70) has frequently grappled with high-profile, controversial cases, many involving questions of the law in matters of life and death.

Take the Terri's Law case for example. Last September, Pariente gave the Supreme Court's opinion on the law, which drew national attention. An accident fourteen years earlier had left forty-year-old Theresa "Terri" Schiavo severely brain-damaged and unable to survive without life support. Although she had left no written instructions, her husband, Michael Schiavo, maintained that she would not have elected prolonged life-sustaining measures. Florida's lower courts ruled that Schiavo, as guardian for his wife, could have her nutrition and hydration withheld, which he did in October 2003. Her parents objected and lobbied the governer's office and the Legislature, which quickly passed what was called Terri's Law, granting the governer the power to intercede. Governer Jeb Bush had the feeding and hydration tube reinserted six days after it was pulled.

The Florida Supreme Court unanimously struck down Terri's Law as an encroachment on the state constitution's fundamental doctrine of the separation of powers. "It is without question an invasion of the authority of the judicial branch for the Legislature to pass a law that allows the executive branch to interfere with the final judicial determination in a case," Pariente wrote. "We are not insensitive to the struggle that all members of the Theresa's family have endured since she fell unconscious in 1990. However, we are a nation of laws and we must govern our decisions by the rule of law and not by our emotions."

Similarly, after the 2000 presidential election, the national spotlight was on the Florida Supreme Court. When the state was bogged down in multiple recount lawsuits, the court unanimously required Secretary of State Katherine Harris to extend deadlines for receipt of recounts, and after Harris declared George Bush the winner, to conduct a statewise recount of current ballots.

Pariente says the greatest challenge the court faced during that tumultuous time was "coordinating the logistics of a very complex set of legal cases within a very limited time frame. Having oral arguments one day and issuing a full opinion the next is a rarity." Although the Florida court's decision to continue the count was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court -- intervening in a presidential election for the first time -- on the grounds of equal protection under the law, Pariente is proud of how her court conducted business: "with great skill, augmented by tremendous dedication."

Impartiality, says Pariente, is what distinguishes justices from legislators and governors, who are elected to follow the will of the people. At the Supreme Court, "we are obligated by our canons of ethics to put aside popular opinion, and to the extent humanly possible, decide these cases based on the principles of law and the state and federal constitution." But it is not always easy. "It is a tremendous challenge," she says. "It's what makes a judge different from any other kind of public servant. Fundamental to our very core function is that you put aside your personal viewpoint. It is not an issue of whether you're for or against the death penalty", for example, which Florida has in place. "I've got to make decisions based on the law".

...

SOCIAL CONSCIENCE

Growing up in New York City, Pariente was attracted to a career in communications, and when she later attended the School of Public Communications (now the College of Communication [at Boston University]), she majored in broadcast journalism. In a course on the First Amendment, she was fascinated by the U.S. Supreme Court cases and the decisions of great justices such as Oliver Wendell Holmes. Prompted as well by history and government courses taught by College of Arts and Sciences Professors Howard Zinn and Murray Levin, she says, she began to wonder, "How do you make changed? I started to see the legal system as a way to effect change." She volunteered for organizations that help parents on welfare better understand their rights. "I realized that there were many powerless individuals," she says, "without a voice to secure basic housing." A summer volunteer job in New York's Lower East Side and a junior year student project making a documentary on Harvard's new legal services program piqued her interest in a legal services career and prompted her to apply to law school.

...

[palmer]

It was difficult not to translate her words as "blah blah blah" and Florida as "Floriduh". The picture to me is of a legal lightweight indoctrinated by extreme leftists like Zinn and using rationalizations like judicial independence from the popular will to try to extend the leftist domination of judicial branch after the rest of government has become (somewhat more) conservative.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Pariente contradicts herself. Compare:

"Impartiality, says Pariente, is what distinguishes justices from legislators and governors, who are elected to follow the will of the people. At the Supreme Court, "we are obligated by our canons of ethics to put aside popular opinion, and to the extent humanly possible, decide these cases based on the principles of law and the state and federal constitution." But it is not always easy. "It is a tremendous challenge," she says. "It's what makes a judge different from any other kind of public servant. Fundamental to our very core function is that you put aside your personal viewpoint. It is not an issue of whether you're for or against the death penalty", for example, which Florida has in place. "I've got to make decisions based on the law".

"Prompted as well by history and government courses taught by College of Arts and Sciences Professors Howard Zinn and Murray Levin, she says, she began to wonder, "How do you make changed? I started to see the legal system as a way to effect change."

[palmer]

Yes, that jumped out at me. Under the section "CHILDREN FIRST", she says "[while] the courts are not social workers, we are dealing with complex underlying social issues, and so it is incumbent upon the judicial system to ensure the best results for the child."

[Fido969]

I saw this article in Bostonia magazine, and was waiting for it to appear on line so it could be posted here.

While de judge don't like the characterization "activist judges", she leads the pack of judges trying to force society into their own image.

Hubris that will fail every time.

[palmer]

Barbara Pariente bump

[Ohioan from Florida]

Thanks for the ping!

[Ohioan from Florida]

Terri ping. It's not about Terri, per se, but look at what Pariente has to say about being a judge.

If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!

[Theodore R.]

Chief Justice Barbara Pariente

If that's all FL can find for a chief justice, I recommend that the office be abolished.

[BykrBayb]

So this bimbo thinks judges are supposed to flout the laws created by the legislature, and create their own laws. If the legislature oversteps it's authority by creating a new law that reinforces the laws already on the books, those laws should be thrown out too. After all, it's not the legislature's job to create laws. That's what judges are for. Legislators are just elected to put the judges' laws on paper.

[Ohioan from Florida]

Yep! She herself said everything we need to know about her views. Words from her own mouth. The only caveat would be if they were misquotes. Lord knows the MSM never does that.

[Canadian Outrage]

"The legal system making change" is in fact, legislating from the bench. A totally bogus argument.

[Canadian Outrage]

It's time for Jeb Bush to declare Terri, as a handicapped person, a ward of the State. This rediculous legal/legislature back and forth is nauseating. Someone had better step up to the plate and who better than the GOVERNOR of the entire State and it's people. God this seems more than simple to me. If this woman's rantings about separation of powers were true, she has it backwards. Otherwise, Judges Govern the State of Florida.

[Ohioan from Florida]

It seems simple to us, but you know, we're not as "smart" as judges are! < sarcasm off>

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[windchime]

Thanks!

[pc93]

Must be why she was smiling at Felos when he was before them. What a joke... except not funny!

[palmer]

A knowing smile that the scumbucket was funding one of her favored principles, "right to die", or in this case, "right to kill", using Terri's fund as his cash cow. Her earlier career, leveraging the loot from personal injury trial lawyer cases for ten years probably has some parallels. The article doesn't go into any details but the underlying principle is that it is ok to lie and extort money from greedy companies (or greedy parents) as long as you use the money to advance your leftist agenda.

[pc93]

pc93 reporting!

FOR LOCAL AND NON-LOCAL (GLOBAL) DISTRIBUTION:

Here is the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Life Ribbon Desktop Logo with instructions on how to get it on your screen. Also contains an exhortation to the Florida House Representatives and Senators of the FL Senate as well as contact numbers of officials to call, including links to The Empire Journal, terrisfight.org and Free Republic, etc.:

http://www.enlightenment-engine.net/eeng/ribbon/terriliferibbondesktoplogo.zip

Here is a flyer for Terri that can be printed out and distributed:

http://www.enlightenment-engine.net/eeng/ribbon/terriflyer.pdf

Here is html code if you have a webpage and would like to participate in the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Life Ribbon Campaign besides the above of having a Terri Life Ribbon on your own computer:

Copy and paste the following text into your HTML web page code where you want the Terri Schindler Life Ribbon banner to appear:

Join the Terri Schindler Life Ribbon Campaign!

If instead you simply want to have the Terri Schindler Life Ribbon appearing on your web page then use this code:

Terri Schindler Life Ribbon Campaign

Terri Schindler-Schiavo Life Ribbon Campaign:

Google -> Life Ribbon

or:

http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/c/pc93/terri_schindler_life_ribbon_campaign.htm

Juan V Schoch - Lake Mary, FL
Concerned Florida Resident / United States Citizen who believes Terri should be provided protection, removed from out of the hands of those trying to kill her via substituted (hearsay) wishes, and who believes she should be placed back on the road to her recovery via rehabilitation and therapy, etc. as well as into the hands of her loved ones, etc.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1333205/posts

Florida House Could Impeach Schiavo Judge

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1342344/posts?page=1#1