Editorial

How Will Marshall Defend Herself?
Generous Pensions for Everyone?

      Speculation is mounting as to what Margaret Marshall can possibly say when she is finally obliged to defend herself in the solemn, majestic Chamber of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

      How could anyone defend the assurances given by her to Attorney Mary Bonauto that Bonauto would win a homosexual lawsuit for marriage if it were brought in the Massachusetts courts? The assurances were given in public with two records of the event made by the excited homosexuals.

     There appear to be few who believe that Marshall should end her career in this tawdry manner --- in disgrace.

     After all, hers was the era when she and other women were hailed as pioneers who would prove that women could be excellent jurists, equal to men. The courts were almost totally managed by women in 1999. Marshall was at the top of all our judicial system, Suzanne DelVecchio was Chief in the Superior Court and Barbara A. Dortch-Okara was Chief for Administration and Management of the Trial Court. There were three women on the SJC.

     But something went terribly wrong. Dortch-Okara was never accused of wrongdoing, but when a panel (appointed by Marshall) reported in 2003 that the courts were “dysfunctional,” “mired in managerial confusion” and in need of “sweeping changes,” Dortch-Okara was returned to being a trial judge.

     DelVecchio was even more ardent than Marshall in seeking homosexual marriage after being appointed to a five-year term as Chief in 1999. That term will end this fall and she will return as a trial judge if she does not resign first. She has served nineteen years on the bench.

     This is all a pity because there are many excellent women who desire to be judges of the highest caliber. They are not extreme feminists who are insistent on changing our society. This debacle will hurt those women because they will now have to prove they are not politicos. They are different from what we have just witnessed and will not represent only one sex.

     It’s unfortunate that Marshall’s uncontrollable ambition also trapped Judges Greaney, Ireland and Cowin. But they were big people who understood what they were doing when they agreed to her plans. They must resign with her. It’s time for a new era when men and women can work together for a better world, not in anger against what the Creator has “done” to one sex or the other.

     This is the time for Margaret Marshall to quietly move on to a new life, with her head held high, saying that she does not believe she did anything wrong but she won’t damage the court she holds in such high esteem. She can undoubtedly obtain a professorship at some prestigious college such as her alma mater, Yale University, where she was just elected as a Fellow on the governing board of the school. She can blame the whole debacle on “right wing zealots” like us. The world will go on.

     Judge Greaney is 65, ready to retire and will likely receive a good pension after 29 years of service --- if he does not fight the Removal. If he fights, he will cause terrible division in the state and his pension will be uncertain. Judge Ireland is 60-years-old and will probably receive an excellent pension after 27 years of service. Judith Cowin has countless years of service as a state employee and a husband who is presently a judge on the state Appeals Court.

     There is no need to feel sorry for any of these judges unless they anger the citizens as it is discovered how many millions this is going to cost in state revenues for people who did, after all, violate our sacred Constitution and the trust of the people.