Let us assume that Associated Press reporter Ed White got it down correctly. …That Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Preston Young, Jr., has acknowledged that he uttered the dread N-word–that remnant of racism–in a moment of high passion. According to Mr. White:
Young, who is black, told the Associated Press that he used the word during an “impassioned plea” to emphasize how someone was being treated “without rights, without dignity.”
“I’m sorry that I used the term. … Obviously I was very hot about this. That’s why I used the word,” Young said. “I remember the heat and the purpose for using it.”
When pressed for details, he couldn’t recall the case.
How about if I help him refresh his memory? Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver (Retired) remembers clearly what, where, when and how he said it. Here is her response to Justice Young’s assertions.
STATEMENT BY MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
ELIZABETH A. WEAVER (RETIRED)
October 25, 2010
Last week, on Oct. 19, 2010, in a speech now on the internet (www.delayedjustice.com , YouTube, and my personally funded websitewww.justiceweaver.com) I shared with the public that Justice Robert P. Bob” Young, Jr. and Judge Mary Beth Kelly, and their media supporters are repeatedly misleading and deceiving the voting public with incorrect assertions about their performance, temperament, and character as judges.
As examples, I publically shared seven (7) facts–not fictions–about Justice Young. The first was that Justice Young used at least one racial slur while performing the business of the court during the regular Court Conference of May 10, 2006. I read from my May 19, 2006, memo to the Justices concerning the unprofessional, disrespectful, undignified, almost juvenile and locker-room behavior that occurred much too often while doing the judicial business of the people in regular Supreme Court conferences.
The memo stated:
At the May 10, 2006, conference, Justice Young’s use of the N” word (n—–s”) when commenting on an announced candidacy for a judgeship during the Court’s discussion of Commissioner Report cases confirmed the need to share the following:”
And I then went on to lay out other examples of bad conduct. You can read the entire memo at the two websites.
Justice Young, in an interview with Associated Press reporter Ed White, confirmed that he had used the N” word. Unfortunately, he didn’t stop there. He attempted to deceive the reporter and the public by saying that he used it during an ‘impassioned plea’ to emphasize how someone was being treated ‘without rights, without dignity.’” Justice Young continued that Obviously I was very hot about this. That’s why I used the word. … I remember the heat and the purpose for using it.”
The article stated that, When pressed for details, he [Justice Young] couldn’t recall the case.”
Below are the details and the truth–not the fiction–about the case and the conduct of Justice Young during the case while the Court was holding its regular weekly conference to discuss the status of pending cases. He used the N” word with disdain and jocularity…he was laughing. And so were others. His statement was made during the business of the Court. The justices were in the middle of item number seven (7) on the May 10, 2006, court conference agenda: 130592 Moxon v. Moxon. The trial judge in the case was Judge Antonio Tony” Viviano. The Justices had been discussing whether to deny appeal in the case, hear it, or remand it. The Justices turned from the case before them to bring up that Judge Tony Viviano’s son, David, might run for a judgeship in Macomb County and that might put him in the running against a former judge, Andrea Ferrara. The Supreme Court had removed Judge Ferrara from office in Wayne County in 1998 but there was talk of her running for another judgeship in Macomb County in the 2006 election.
Below is exactly what the Justices said, from my notes and from a transcript of a recording I made of that conference. I share these facts for the voting public to judge for themselves whether Justice Young is fit to continue to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court:
7.130952 STELLA A MOXON V JACK R MOXON –
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): I’M QUICK TO SAY THE JUDGE ALWAYS HAS THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THINGS WITH REGARDS TO THESE KIDS.”
Justice Marilyn Kelly (MK): I THINK SO TOO EVEN THOUGH THAT WAS A SEPARATE…”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): ..BUT I JUST WANT TO REMAND THIS FOR FURTHER FACT FINDING CAUSE I DON’T THINK HE HAD ENOUGH IN THERE TO JUSTIFY DOING WHAT HE DID.”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): THE SALE WAS PENDING…”
Justice Michael F. Cavanagh (MFC): VIVIANO’S SON WAS RUNNING…”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): …ANDREA FERRARA. ISN’T THAT A SCREAM? … YES, THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID. MOVING ON…”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): WATCH OUT FOR THOSE N—–S OUT THERE. (Laughter) REALLY . . .”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): …WE DIDN’T DO THE DEATH PENALTY…”
Justice Michael F. Cavanagh (MFC): SHE HAS TO MOVE FROM DOWN RIVER OUT TO MACOMB.”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): SHE DID.”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): OH, I’M SURE SHE DID.”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): I THOUGHT SHE LIVED IN…”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): SHE MOVED ACROSS 8 MILE, BOB.”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): I THOUGHT SHE LIVED IN THE POINTS. HER FAMILY LIVES OVER THERE. MAYBE THERE’S A FERRARA DOCTOR THAT’S HER DAD I THINK…”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): …LET’S SEE WHERE WE ARE HERE.”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): ALL RIGHT (laughs). I’M A DENY. STEVE, I DIDN’T HEAR FROM YOU.”
Justice Stephen J. Markman (SJM): I DON’T THINK TONY (Judge Antonio Viviano) EVEN INVOKED MCR 2.612. I’D FEEL A LOT MORE COMFORTABLE IF WE REMANDED, HAD THEM AT LEAST GO THROUGH THE STEPS.”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): I GUESS MAURA (Justice Maura D. Corrigan (MDC)) …”
Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver (EAW): WHAT WAS MAURA’S VOTE?”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): SHE WAS A DENY.”
Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver (EAW): SO, THAT’S FOUR, RIGHT?”
Identity of speaker unclear: THERES A SPECIFIC COURT RULE AND THE COURT JUST TOTALLY IGNORED IT, MARILYN.”
Justice Marilyn Kelly (MK): I’M WILLING TO DO THIS . . .”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): IT’S A FACT QUESTION. I MEAN THE FEDERAL…”
Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver (EAW): RIPPY (RPY), I THOUGHT YOU WERE A DENY.”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): I AM.”
Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver (EAW): SO, IT’S YOU, MYSELF, MK, AND MDC, RIGHT?”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): RIGHT.”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): BUT I THINK PEOPLE ARE STILL THINKING ABOUT IT.”
Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver (EAW): I DIDN’T KNOW.”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): SO, DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT ANYMORE?”
Justice Marilyn Kelly (MK): I’M DONE.”
Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor (CWT): SO IT’S A DENY.”
Justice Robert P. Young (RPY): I’LL REMAND.”
Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver (EAW): 3-4 to deny.”
——————————————————————-
That’s the conclusion of Justice Weaver’s Statement.
At a seminar earlier this month, a speaker reflected on the career of scholar/teacher/editor George Panichas. Panichas is the author of many books, including The Courage of Judgment and the Modern Age. Here’s what the orator said: The courage of judgment, the willingness to call things by their right names, is desperately needed.”
And what shall we call this?
98.243.200.56
2010/10/29 at 4:14 pm
Sorry John, you are misinformed.
The statute does not prohibit a participant in the conversation to tape the conversation. This in not my opinion, it has been the accepted law in this state for almost 30 years. See Sullivan v Gray, 117 Mich App 476 (1982).
The transcripts that Justice Weaver has supplied show that Justice Young was untruthful in his statement to the reporter—plain and simple. No one can justify what Justice Young said during the conference. It was cavalier, unprofessional, vulgar, and a violation of judicial decorum. Instead, Justice Young’s supporters try to deflect the fact of what he said by trying to impugn the motives of Justice Weaver. Obviously, Justice Weaver felt the need to record Justice Young because she knew that he and his supporters, like John, would otherwise question her credibility in addition to her motives.
I hope Justice Weaver releases other transcripts so posterity will have a record of what occurred during this controversial period for the Michigan Supreme Court.
136.181.195.12
What Justice Weaver did was a FELONY. Secretly tape recording another’s conversations without their consent is absolutely prohibited by Michigan’s eavesdropping statute.
Justice Weaver is bitter. She hates Young and will do anything to tarnish his reputation. That some people believe she is a neutral and fair authority on matters of the Supreme Court is absurd. This is politics at its worst.
98.243.200.56
2010/10/27 at 10:37 am
Justice Weaver is a Profile in Courage.” I hope she releases additional transcripts showing just how Justices Taylor and Young were anything but the rule of law” judges that they say they were/are. Justice Weaver would not tolerate misconduct on the court. She taped the conferences to produce a record. It was NOT illegal since the law in Michigan allowed conversations to be recorded by a participant.
Justice Weaver has the unique ability to write the definitive history on the Taylor Court, and show, how it, not she, were the rogue” justices on the court. The Taylor Court reversed scores of precedents just because they didn’t like the outcomes, while pretending to eschew judicial activism.” In fact, the Taylor Court was the most activist court we ever had. Justice Weaver got sick of Taylor’s and Young’s bullying, and disregard for the law. She is to be commended, not condemned.
She is so courageously outraged that she waited years – right.
Gee, Marvin, no, she didn’t. Certainly she sat down with me in 2007 when I made Conflict at the Court. That wasn’t even during an election year. And she had spoken out and written before that about things like the attempt at a “gag” order of 2006 that violated both the Code of Judicial Conduct and the state’s Constitution.
Believe it or not, I think It really seemed to start with a disagreement about….rings. Marvin, I suggest you back and look at what Justice Weaver has written in her dissents over the years. It’s my belief she did everything she possible could from within. But once she was out, I think she was more free to speak her mind. And take a look at the YouTube stuff on her website as Justices Young, Markman, and Corrigan let loose that they’ve sent her to the Judicial Tenure Commission…they’re begging for her permission to speak about it, she doesn’t give, and they just can’t help themselves: the are compelled to go there, again in violation of procedure. Check it out at http://www.justiceweaver.com. Scroll down to the May 12th Administrative Hearings. And read some of the opinions Justice Weaver has written. Pretty soon you’ll start to see a different picture emerging of what’s gone on at the Court. It’s not appealing.
99.7.78.175
2010/10/27 at 5:42 am
Do you know how amazingly unethical, if not illegal, it is for a Supreme Court Justice to record the Court’s private discussions without revealing she is doing so. I hope she is disbarred and prosecuted.
99.102.230.120
2010/10/25 at 11:53 pm
A Haiku to Robert Young:
N”
Bob Young’s N” word spew
In May, 2006, cuts
His tether to Truth,
– Padraig Curran, 2010
76.122.146.203
2010/10/25 at 11:34 pm
First, I question whether this transcript is real. How would Weaver have a transcript from 4 years ago that was made in a private conference? I have never heard of these conferences being recorded.
But even assuming it is real, from what one can even make of this garbled mess of a transcript,” it would seem that Young is MOCKING JUDGE FERRARA, who was removed from the bench for making racist statements about black people. Thus, rather than Young using the n-word personally, all of the Justices are laughing” and mocking Ferrara for thinking that she can move to a new county and run for judge without having to worry about the racist things she said in the past.
This is attempted character assassination of Justice Young. Unbelievable…
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