A district court judge was riding the circuit one particular morning, hearing cases across a 5-county area – a task he shared from time to time with other circuit-riding judges. He called the docket. His first matter was a child-protection case. The forensic evidence showed that the child, barely one year old, had both arms broken. Clean fractures indicating they had been deliberately snapped. The child was in foster care, unaware at her young age of what had happened, why she had been torn from her home, and who these strangers were she was now living with.
Sadly – an all too familiar situation for this road weary judge. The mom had voluntarily relinquished her parental rights to the child. And the grounds for terminating the father’s rights had been met. The only thing standing in the way of beginning the adoption process to find the child a permanent home was the purported father’s belated claim that he was not her father. That was the hearing over which this particular circuit judge found himself presiding.
The judge ordered a blood test and re-set the hearing in 30 days pending the results. He finished up the rest of the day’s docket, and then drove back to his home.
A year later, he found himself back on the circuit. When he called the first case, he was surprised to see the same defendant before him – no blood test had been done, and the paternity question remained open. The defendant claimed the health department was closed at his appointed time, and no one had followed up with him. In the meantime, the case had fallen through the cracks – and the child remained in foster care. In limbo.
That was a turning point for the judge. He had the defendant instantly escorted to the lab, expedited the results, which established the defendant was indeed the father, and signed the order terminating his rights. He then picked up the phone. He knew of a couple who had been wanting to adopt. In short order, the necessary procedures took place and the little girl found herself in a permanent and loving home. To this day, that judge carries a picture of the child in his wallet. A smiling now-10 year old, beautiful girl – in her cheerleading suit -- whose life was forever changed by this judge’s actions.
Judges make difficult and life-changing decisions like these every day. Decisions that affect employment, family life, our parents, our children, the conduct of business, health and safety, and preserving the freedoms we’re so very blessed with in this country. Judges empower the disadvantaged by hearing their voices, deciding dispassionately and without favor, and affording equal justice under the law. Judges are also leaders in their communities – standing as bulwarks against prejudice and intolerance.
When an African American postal worker from Houston was denied admission to the University of Texas School of Law in 1946, it was courageous judges who struck down the system of separate-but-equal graduate school education. Those judges paved the way for the decision in Brown v. Board of Education. A landmark case that opened the door of equal opportunity to millions.
Paving the way to justice – keeping our courthouse doors open to all regardless of income -- is what judging is all about.
A bright young lawyer, Beth Klusmann, spoke a few years ago at the Texas Supreme Court swearing-in ceremony admitting new lawyers to the bar. She spoke of a National Geographic special she had seen on TV about a group of scientists who lived and worked in Antarctica. Their job was to pound wooden stakes into the ice and measure how far those stakes moved each year - which was no more than a couple of feet. These scientists braved the cold and the harsh elements. They patiently recorded their observations year after year.
Who would want that kind of job?
A twenty or thirty-year career could be summed up in a whopping 50 to 60 foot movement of a little piece of wood. And someone sometime in the future would gather all that data, write a paper and have a theory named after them. By then, the scientists who had hammered the original stakes would merit little more than a footnote in history.
But those original scientists knew they were part of something bigger. If critical knowledge about our planet was to be gained, someone had to go to Antarctica and pound those stakes. These individuals were willing to sacrifice their time and effort to lay the foundation for something bigger than themselves.
I thought her metaphor was perfectly suited to describing what we as judges do. Legal decisions don’t spontaneously spring forth from our individual genius. They are carefully built and crafted on decisions that went before. When woven together, these opinions form the fabric that cloaks this great country in the rule of law.
Today, we remember – and we honor – those judges who are no longer with us. Judges Anderson, Bedard, Bender, Dempster, Drago, Garcia, Garwood, Guarino, Hammond, Hartman, Haten, Lawrence, McKim, Moore, Mormino, Purcell, Plunk, Snodgrass, Street, Villarreal and White. Each of these fine jurists chose to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They made the tough choices, the difficult decisions that sometimes forced them to weather the harsh elements of public opinion. They pounded the stakes by which we measure the law today. Our state, and our nation, are better for their service.
And let us not forget the families, the friends, and the colleagues of these judges. If you would please stand. Your sacrifices, your support, your friendship, your encouragement were essential to these judges as they carried out their duties and tackled the rigorous schedules that our courts demand. From each of you these judges drew tremendous strength and inspiration – so you, too, are a part of the fabric of our rule of law.
The law defines a legacy as a gift given by someone after death through a will. These judges gave us their gifts of wisdom and committed service. What a legacy.
How fitting it is that at the annual Judicial Conference you honor these fellow jurists who have departed. Now I know that the theme of this year’s conference is “The Changing Courts.” But some things never change. Judges’ contributions – your contributions -- to the jurisprudence, to the people of Texas, to the fabric of this nation are timeless. They are your legacy, and they will be remembered in the hearts of those who follow for years to come.
Thank you for your service.
Written by Hon. Harriet O'Neill
