Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson | |
---|---|
6th & 13th Attorney General of Guam | |
In office January 5, 2015 –January 7, 2019 | |
Governor | Eddie Calvo |
Preceded by | Leonardo Rapadas |
Succeeded by | Leevin Camacho |
In office July 7,1987 –July 4,1994 | |
Governor | Joseph Franklin Ada |
Preceded by | Jack Avery |
Succeeded by | Calvin Holloway |
Personal details | |
Born | Guam,U.S. | July 21,1953
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Daniel Anderson |
Education | University of San Francisco (BA) Santa Clara University (JD) |
Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson (born July 21,1953) is a Guamanian lawyer,judge,and moderate Republican politician. She served as the sixth and thirteenth (fourth elected) Attorney General of Guam,a U.S. territory,from 1987 to 1994 and from 2015 to 2019. [1] [2] She is the longest-serving (11 years) attorney general in Guamanian history and was the first woman to serve as attorney general. [3] [4]
Barrett-Anderson is the daughter of Jack Barrett (1917–1987) and Concepcion "Chong" Cruz Barrett (1915–1993),a former senator of the Guam Legislature. Barrett-Anderson earned her B.A. at the University of San Francisco and her J.D. at the University of Santa Clara School of Law. She was the first Chamorro woman to be admitted to practice law in Guam. She operated a private law practice on Guam until she was appointed Attorney General by Governor Joseph Franklin Ada in 1987. She later won election to the office.
She resigned as attorney general in 1994 to run for the Guam Legislature,where she served two terms. [3] In 1997,she was appointed to the Superior Court of Guam by Governor Carl T.C. Gutierrez,and she was confirmed as a judge by the Legislature in 1998. [4] [5]
In 1990,she opposed the enactment of a law restricting abortion to cases in which the life of the mother is threatened. When it passed and became the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S.,she said her role had "now shifted to one of law enforcement". [6] [7]
In 2014,twenty years after she left the post of Attorney General,she ran again for the office and won,defeating incumbent Leonardo Rapadas by a wide margin in the November 2014 general election. [8]
In April 2015,Barrett-Anderson ordered the director of the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services to begin processing same-sex marriage licenses on April 15,2015,which would have made Guam the first U.S. territory to allow same-sex marriage. [9]
Myra Colby Bradwell was an American publisher and political activist. She attempted in 1869 to become the first woman to be admitted to the Illinois bar to practice law,but was denied admission by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1870 and the United States Supreme Court in 1873,in rulings upholding a separate women's sphere. Bradwell had founded and published Chicago Legal News from 1868,reporting on the law and continued that work. Meanwhile,influenced by her case,in 1872 the Illinois legislature passed a state law prohibiting gender discrimination in admission to any occupation or profession.
The Supreme Court of Guam is the highest judicial body of the United States territory of Guam. The Court hears all appeals from the Superior Court of Guam and exercises original jurisdiction only in cases where a certified question is submitted to it by a U.S. federal court,the Governor of Guam,or the Guam Legislature. The Supreme Court of Guam is the ultimate judicial authority on local matters. In the past,appeals of questions involving the U.S. Constitution or federal laws or treaties were heard by a three-judge appellate panel of the U.S. District Court of Guam,from which appeals could be further taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,but this is no longer the case. Since 2006,the court's decisions have only been appealable to the Supreme Court of the United States,in line with the practice regarding the highest courts of the 50 states. The Court sits in the Monessa G. Lujan Memorial Courtroom,which is on the third floor of the Guam Judicial Center in Hagatna,Guam.
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Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) rights in Guam have improved significantly in recent years. Same-sex sexual activity has not been criminalized since 1978,and same-sex marriage has been allowed since June 2015. The U.S. territory now has discrimination protections in employment for both sexual orientation and gender identity. Additionally,federal law has provided for hate crime coverage since 2009. Gender changes are legal in Guam,provided the applicant has undergone sex reassignment surgery.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015. Previously,the U.S. state of Texas had banned same-sex marriage both by statute since 1973 and in its State Constitution since 2005. On February 26,2014,Judge Orlando Luis Garcia of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas found that Texas's ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. On April 22,2014,a state court came to the same conclusion. Both cases were appealed. The district court's decision was appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals,but before that court could issue a ruling,the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all same-sex marriage bans in the United States in Obergefell on June 26,2015. Within a few months of the court ruling,all counties had started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples,except for Irion County,which announced in 2020 that it would begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples,making it the last county in the United States to comply with the ruling.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Kentucky since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015. The decision,which struck down Kentucky's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriages,was handed down on June 26,2015,and Governor Steve Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway announced almost immediately that the court's order would be implemented.
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