Denise R. Johnson | |
---|---|
Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court | |
In office December 3, 1990 –August 31, 2011 | |
Appointed by | Madeleine Kunin |
Preceded by | Louis P. Peck |
Succeeded by | Beth Robinson |
Personal details | |
Born | Wyandotte,Michigan | July 13,1947
Residence | Middlesex,Vermont |
Alma mater | Wayne State University, University of Connecticut School of Law (J.D.), University of Virginia School of Law (LL.M.) |
Denise Reinka Johnson (born July 13,1947) is a Vermont attorney and judge. She was an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1990 to 2011,and was the first woman to serve on this court. One of Johnson's most significant moments was her opinion in Baker v. Vermont in which a majority of the Supreme Court of Vermont ruled the state must establish civil unions for same sex couples. Johnson dissented,arguing that the court should have granted the plaintiffs marriage licenses instead.
Denise Reinka Johnson was born in Wyandotte,Michigan on July 13,1947,the daughter of William and Irene Reinka. She graduated from Wyandotte’s Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1965,and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Wayne State University in 1969. [1] She received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1974 and was admitted to the bar in Connecticut. [2]
From 1974 to 1978 Johnson practiced in New Haven,Connecticut with the New Haven Legal Assistance Association. In 1978 she moved to Vermont and began a teaching position at Vermont Law School.
In 1980 Johnson became a Vermont Assistant Attorney General,and she served as the Chief of the Civil Rights Division. She was Chief of the Attorney General’s Public Protection Division from 1982 to 1988. [3] Johnson moved to private practice in 1988,and from 1988 to 1990 was the first Chairperson of the Vermont Human Rights Commission. [4]
In 1990 Johnson was appointed an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court by Governor Madeleine Kunin,succeeding Louis P. Peck. [5] She was the first woman to serve on the court, [6] and she served until retiring in 2011. In 1995 she received a LL.M. degree in Law and its Administration from the University of Virginia School of Law. [7]
While serving on the state Supreme Court,Johnson was involved in several notable decisions. She agreed with the majority in 1999’s Baker v. Vermont ,which established that denying marriage rights to same-sex couples was discriminatory,and directed the Vermont General Assembly to provide a solution,except that she dissented as to the remedy,preferring marriage licenses issue. [8] This decision led to Vermont’s 2000 civil unions law,the first in the nation to allow same-sex couples to enter into partnerships similar to marriage. Johnson had opposed the portion of the court’s decision directing the legislature to create a solution,unsuccessfully arguing that the court had its own duty to remedy constitutional violations.
Johnson resides in Middlesex,Vermont and has been involved in several international legal initiatives and programs,including teaching advanced seminars and lecturing at universities in Italy,a conference on judicial independence in Belarus,and a judicial reform program in Armenia.
Baker v. Vermont,744 A.2d 864,was a lawsuit decided by Vermont Supreme Court on December 20,1999. It was one of the first judicial affirmations of the right of same-sex couples to treatment equivalent to that afforded different-sex couples. The decision held that the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage denied rights granted by the Vermont Constitution. The court ordered the Vermont legislature to either allow same-sex marriages or implement an alternative legal mechanism according similar rights to same-sex couples.
Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health,289 Conn. 135,957 A.2d 407,is a 2008 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court holding that allowing same-sex couples to form same-sex unions but not marriages violates the Connecticut Constitution. It was the third time that a ruling by the highest court of a U.S. state legalized same-sex marriage,following Massachusetts in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003) and California in In re Marriage Cases (2008). The decision legalized same-sex marriage in Connecticut when it came into effect on November 12,2008. There were no attempts made to amend the state constitution to overrule the decision,and gender-neutral marriage statutes were passed into law in 2009.
Mary L. Bonauto is an American lawyer and civil rights advocate who has worked to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,and has been referred to by US Representative Barney Frank as "our Thurgood Marshall." She began working with the Massachusetts-based Gay &Lesbian Advocates &Defenders,now named GLBTQ Legal Advocates &Defenders (GLAD) organization in 1990. A resident of Portland,Maine,Bonauto was one of the leaders who both worked with the Maine legislature to pass a same-sex marriage law and to defend it at the ballot in a narrow loss during the 2009 election campaign. These efforts were successful when,in the 2012 election,Maine voters approved the measure,making it the first state to allow same-sex marriage licenses via ballot vote. Bonauto is best known for being lead counsel in the case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health which made Massachusetts the first state in which same-sex couples could marry in 2004. She is also responsible for leading the first strategic challenges to section three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
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