[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 132 (Friday, September 7, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               STATEMENT OF CHIEF JUSTICE PAMELA MINZNER

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 7, 2007

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Madam Speaker, when Pamela Minzner became 
the first female chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, lawyers 
wanted to know what to call her. New Mexico lawyers had never used the 
phrase ``Madam Chief Justice,'' so they decided to inquire if they 
could call her ``Chief Justice Minzner.'' The Chief Justice's reply 
speaks volumes about her personality. She told the shocked lawyers, 
``just call me Pam.''
  Pamela Minzner grew up with dreams of being a secretary. She believed 
the job would give her all the independence a woman could expect. But 
after interning at the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in the 1960s, 
Minzner decided to study law. In 1968 she graduated from Harvard Law 
School as one of 22 women in a class of 500. In 1994, she became just 
the second woman to serve on the New Mexico Supreme Court, and in 1999 
she became the court's first female chief justice.
  Minzner will always be known for her integrity. She stood strong on 
principal when politics threatened to poison the court. She gave freely 
of her advice and compassion, and public officials across New Mexico 
regarded her as a mentor and a friend. Assistants remember leaving her 
chambers late at night with the judge still working, and her husband, 
Dick, recalls her commitment to the law and to her work.
  I served as New Mexico's Attorney General when Justice Minzner was on 
the Supreme Court. I remember her ability to inspire trust in the rule 
of law. Justice Minzner believed in the law as a force for progress and 
fairness. Through the respect she showed to every lawyer who entered 
her court, she showed New Mexico that the legal system can be fair and 
just to all sides. On behalf of New Mexico, I want to honor Justice 
Minzner for her exemplary work and life as a wife to Dick and mother to 
Carl and Max.

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