Christine Meaders Durham (born August 3,1945) is an American lawyer and judge,who served as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1982 to 2017,including service as chief justice from 2002 to 2012.
Durham is the oldest child of three,and she grew up in Southern California. When she was young,she aspired to be a novelist.[1] Durham's father initially worked for the IRS in Washington,D. C.,and in 1960 he became a US Department of the Treasury attachéat the Paris Embassy and the family went to French schools and learned French.
In the early 1960s,Durham moved to New England to attend Wellesley College,a women's college,where she met her husband,George Durham. It was also at this time that she received her patriarchal blessing from the Boston Stake patriarch (she was and is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints),that said things that had a role in her decision to study law.[2] She graduated in 1967 with an A.B. with Honors. She then went to Boston College for law to be near her husband while he finished his undergraduate studies at Harvard. When he was accepted to Duke Medical School,Durham transferred to Duke Law School. She graduated from Duke Law School in 1971.
She is now on the Board of Trustees of Duke University,where she is on the Executive Committee and chairs the Faculty,Graduate and Professional Schools Affairs and Honorary Degree Committees.[3] For a personal account of her early life,see Mormon Women:Portraits and Conversations by James N. Kimball and Kent Miles.
Legal career
Durham was an Instructor of Legal Medicine at Duke University Medical School immediately after she graduated from law school in 1971 until 1973. She was admitted to the North Carolina State Bar in 1971. She had a general law practice while in North Carolina,representing private clients in domestic law,employment law,and personal injury law work. She also did title law work and criminal defense work off of the county indigency list. While in North Carolina,she was a legal consultant for the Duke University Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development.[4] She and her husband moved to Utah in 1973,where she became an adjunct professor of law at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School until 1978. At this time she formed a partnership with two other lawyers and founded the law firm of Johnson,Durham,&Moxley.[5] In 1980,the firm merged with a larger firm in Salt Lake City. She also occasionally teaches constitutional law at the University of Utah’s S. J. Quinney College of Law.
In 1978,Durham became a trial judge in the 3rd Judicial District Court for the state of Utah. She served for four years,one of them as the presiding judge.[8] She was appointed as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court by Governor Scott M. Matheson in 1982 and became the Chief Justice in April 2002. She resigned as chief justice in March 2012.[9] She was the first female Chief Justice of a state to swear into office a female governor,when Olene Walker became Utah’s 15th governor.
Justice Durham wrote majority opinions and dissenting opinions in many cases. For a full list of Justice Durham's Utah Supreme Court decisions,go to http://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/#scoral
Polygamy
In the case of In the Matter of the Adoption of W. A. T.,et al.,808 P.2d 1083,1085 State v. Holm (Utah 1991),Justice Durham protected the civil rights of polygamists. The decision held that the Utah Constitution does not per se preclude a polygamist family from adopting children. Justice Durham,writing for the 3-2 court,noted,"The fact that our constitution requires the state to prohibit polygamy does not necessarily mean that the state must deny any or all civil rights and privileges to polygamists." She noted that many things are crimes like polygamy,but we extend civil rights to perpetrators of those crimes. She stated,"It is not the role of the courts to make threshold exclusions dismissing without consideration,for example,the adoption petitions of all convicted felons,all persons engaging in fornication or adultery,or other persons engaged in illegal activities."[16] The decision also upheld the constitutionality of the bigamy statute in the Utah Constitution.
Fetal Rights
In the case of State v. MacGuire,84 P.3d 1171 (Utah 2004)[17] in 2004 the Utah Supreme Court ruled that all fetuses are covered under the state's criminal homicide statute. Though she agreed with that premise,Justice Durham dissented based on the definition of the capital murder and aggravated murder charges as well as based on the US Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade. "Declaring a fetus to be a 'person' entitled to equal protection would require not only overturning Roe v. Wade but also making abortion,as a matter of constitutional law,illegal in all circumstances,even to save the life of the mother."[18]
Primacy
Durham is a proponent of first looking to the Utah Constitution before the Federal Constitution for protection of an individual's rights. In her concurrence to State v. Daniels,40 P.3d 611,626 (Utah 2002),she stated,“I continue to be a proponent of independent state constitutional analysis on federalism grounds,believing we should use a primacy approach or dual analysis approach whenever possible.”In State v. Larocco,794 P.2d 460 (Utah 1990),however,Justice Durham recognized the duality of the American system. Justice Durham,in her majority opinion,explained that states may rest their analysis on state constitution first because it “may prove to be an appropriate method for insulating citizens from the vagaries of inconsistent interpretations given . . . by the federal courts.”[19]
Gun Rights
In the case of University of Utah v. Shurtleff,144 P.3d 1109 (Utah 2006).,[20] the Utah Supreme Court ruled in a 4-1 decision that the University of Utah has no right to ban guns on campus,rejecting the argument that prohibiting firearms is part of the school's power to control academic affairs. In her dissent,Chief Justice Durham said policies that are reasonably connected to the school's academic mission are within its autonomous authority over academic affairs. Under the majority analysis,she said,"the university may not subject a student to academic discipline for flashing his pistol to a professor in class."[21]
Publications and Speeches
Justice Durham has published numerous articles and is a frequent lecturer on the judiciary,women's issues,and civic education. She helped draft a manual on legal rights of the elderly. Also,as a former head of the Judiciary Branch of Utah,she gave annual State of the Judiciary addresses to the legislative branch of the state. She has spoken at various conventions,including the 2010 Spring Convention of the Utah State Bar,[22] the 2010 National Conference of the American Bar Association,[23] and the 123rd Jackson Lecture in 2009.[24]
Community service
Durham served on the Governor's Task Force that recommended legislation to implement the 1985 amendments to the Judicial Article of the Utah Constitution. She served on the Utah Constitutional Revision Commission for 12 years. As Chief Justice,she chaired the Utah Judicial Council,which is the administrative governing body of the state court system. She served as the first chair of the Utah Judicial Council's Education Committee. She was the Founder of the Leadership Institute in Judicial Education. She was part of the Commission on Justice in the 21st Century and the Co-chair of the Committee on Improving Jury Service. She was the first Chair of the Utah State Court's Public Outreach Committee. From 1986 to 1997 she was the president of the National Association of Women Judges,which organization she founded.[25] She was on the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.[26] She is the immediate past President of the Conference of Chief Justices,and is the first Utahn to be elected to this position.[27] She is the leader of the Coalition for Civic,Character,and Service Learning - a partnership between civic organizations,public education,the judicial branch,and the legal profession to improve education about the justice system in Utah public schools.
Durham was elected to the American Law Institute in 1984 and was elected to the ALI Council in 1989. She has served as an Adviser on Restatement Third,Employment Law and as a Member Consultant on Model Penal Code:Sentencing and Model Penal Code:Sexual assault and Related Offenses.
Recognized nationally for her work in Judicial Education,Christine Durham currently serves on the board of trustees for the University of the People. Her excellence has been a critical factor in helping establish the world's first non-profit,tuition-free,online academic institution that seeks to revolutionize higher education by making college-level studies accessible to students worldwide.
Awards
Christine Durham has been recognized nationally for her work in judicial education and efforts to improve the administration of justice. In 2007,Durham received the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence,one of the most prestigious judicial honors in the country.[28] She is the only Utahn to have received this award to date. The award is presented annually to a state court judge who exemplifies the highest level of judicial excellence,integrity,fairness,and professional ethics. Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts presented the award to Durham on 15 November 2007 at a ceremony in Washington,D.C. Chief Justice Roberts said,"Chief Justice Durham has demonstrated her commitment to public service,judicial education,and the cause of justice throughout her 25 years on the Utah Supreme Court. She reflects those qualities that Chief Justice Rehnquist valued during his distinguished career.”President Mary C. McQueen of the National Center for State Courts said Durham was selected because of her “innovative leadership style and her contributions to advancing judicial branch education not only in Utah,but nationally.”Justice Durham is noted for developing interactive education programs in content areas that previously did not have curriculum,such as domestic violence,child witness testimony,and scientific evidence. She has received honorary degrees from the University of Utah,Utah Valley University,[29]Weber State University,Salt Lake Community College,and the College of Eastern Utah.
Kimball,James N. and Miles,Kent. Mormon Women:Portraits and Conversations. 1st ed. Salt Lake City,UT:Handcart Books,2009. 184-209. Print. Utah Bar NewsAlbany Law Review
The Connecticut Supreme Court,formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors,is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford,across the street from the Connecticut State Capitol. The court generally holds eight sessions of two to three weeks per year,with one session each September through November and January through May. Justices are appointed by the governor and then approved by the Connecticut General Assembly.
Robert D. "Skip" Durham is a retired justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Previously,Durham was a judge for the Oregon Court of Appeals and a lawyer in private practice.
Scott Milne Matheson Jr. is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He has served on that court since 2010.
Susan M. Leeson is an American attorney and former judge in the state of Oregon. She was the 94th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Prior to her appointment to the supreme court,the Utah native served on the Oregon Court of Appeals from 1993 to 1998.
Michael Jon Wilkins is an American lawyer and judge. He is a retired Justice of the Utah Supreme Court and current chairman of the Utah Independent Ethics Commission.
Michael D. Zimmerman is a prominent attorney,a former justice of the Utah Supreme Court,and a Zen teacher at Two Arrows Zen (TAZ) located in Salt Lake City,Utah.
Charles Shuster Zane was a legal associate of Abraham Lincoln,an anti-polygamy judge in the Territorial Supreme Court in Utah Territory,and the first chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court after statehood.
Matthew B. Durrant is the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court. He is a graduate of both Brigham Young University and Harvard Law School. Durrant had a clerkship with Judge Monroe McKay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit,a position as a lawyer for the Utah firm Parr,Brown,Gee,and Loveless for over a decade,and time spent on the bench of Utah's Third Judicial District.
Ronald E. Nehring was a justice of the Utah Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court in 2003 by Utah Governor Michael Leavitt,and he retired in 2015.
Roger I. McDonough was an American judge. He presided over Utah's Third Judicial District Court for ten years. Then in 1938 he was elected to the Utah Supreme Court,where he went on to serve as chief justice from 1947 to 1948 and 1954 to 1959. At the time of his death,his tenure was the longest of any judge or justice in the state's history. McDonough was known for his mediation efforts during the Strike wave of 1945–1946. In the response to the post-war labor crisis,President Harry S. Truman appointed him to the National Labor Relations Board. In this role,he served on multiple emergency fact-finding committees to help settle labor disputes in the steel and railroad industries.
Jill Annette Niederhauser Parrish is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah and a former justice of the Utah Supreme Court.
Michele Mladejovsky Christiansen Forster is an American lawyer and judge. Forster is a judge of the Utah Court of Appeals.
Julie V. Lund is a juvenile court judge for Utah's Third District Juvenile Court;she serves Salt Lake,Summit,and Tooele Counties. She was appointed to the position by Governor Gary Herbert on November 9,2010 to replace Judge Sharon P. McCully,who retired in September of that year.
Judge Frederic (Ric) Oddone is serving in the Utah Third District Juvenile Court
Carolyn Baldwin McHugh is an American lawyer and judge who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. and former Presiding Judge of the Utah Court of Appeals.
Meagan A. Flynn is an American judge who is the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. She previously served as a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals from 2014 to 2017. Flynn was appointed to the state’s supreme court by the Governor Kate Brown in March 2017.
Paige Petersen is an American lawyer and judge,who is an associate justice of the Utah Supreme Court. She previously served as a Utah District Court judge from 2015 to 2017.
Diana Hagen is an American lawyer serving as an associate justice on the Utah Supreme Court. She served as a judge of the Utah Court of Appeals from 2017 to 2022.
Jill M. Pohlman is an American lawyer from Utah who serves as the as an associate justice of the Utah Supreme Court. From 2016 to 2022,she was an associate presiding judge of the Utah Court of Appeals.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
