This is My Silver Lining - Angels, Mentors, Friends, and Fathers: Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, Peggy Quince, on the Importance of the People Who Guide Us Along The Way

Angels, Mentors, Friends, and Fathers: Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, Peggy Quince, on the Importance of the People Who Guide Us Along The Way

06/18/23 • 52 min

In this final installment of our series highlighting stories of the achievements and challenges faced by some of the most distinguished women judges in our history, we speak with former Chief Justice Peggy Quince of the Florida Supreme Court, who is featured in the ABA’s recently published Her Honor - Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges, edited by Lauren Rikleen.

Raised by a single father in Virginia with her four siblings, Chief Justice Peggy Quince learned early on what it means to be treated unfairly. In 1954, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the policy of “separate but equal” justifying segregation in schools was unconstitutional in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education. The decision had little practical or positive impact on the course of young Peggy’s education - many white schools actively resisted efforts to integrate, with some shuttering for years to avoid it. Still she persevered.

Justice Quince tells us about the profound influence her father, Solomon Quince, had on her education. He was determined to afford his children the education he had been denied. Peggy excelled at school and after graduating from Howard University, she was inspired by both the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement, to pursue a career in the law. In 1993, she was appointed to the Second District Court of Appeal and then in 1999, she was appointed as the first African American woman to serve as a Justice on the Florida Supreme Court. From 2008-2010, she served as Chief Justice.

Episode Resources:
Her Honor: Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges
Justice Peggy A. Quince Bio

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© 2023 Silver Linings Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Support this podcast by subscribing and reviewing.

Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks.

Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co.

Episode Resources:
Her Honor: Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges
Justice Peggy A. Quince Bio

Support this podcast by subscribing and reviewing.

Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks.

Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co.

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The Ultimate Myth - Fmr. Chief Justice of Canada’s Supreme Court, Beverley McLachlin, on How the Quest for Perfection Holds Us Back

Nestled in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies in southern Alberta lies the small town of Pincher Creek. With a population of just under 4,000, Pincher Creek has the distinction of being the “Wind Capital of Canada.” It is perhaps better known as the birthplace and hometown of the Right Honorable Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, the longest serving Chief Justice of Canada’s Supreme Court.

Despite being told by her 8th grade teacher that her aptitude for reading wouldn’t do her much good as a girl, Chief Justice McLachlin went on to study philosophy and eventually law at the University of Alberta. Upon graduating with high honors, she spent six years in private practice and then turned to academia, teaching at the University of British Columbia for seven years. At age 37, she received her first judicial appointment to the Vancouver County Court. Could she have imagined the significance of this life changing moment? Over the next eight years, from 1981 to 1989, Justice McLachlin was on the rise! She was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the British Columbia Court of Appeals, made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and in March 1989, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Her highest honor came in the year 2000 when she was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, a role she held for 17 years, making her the longest serving Chief Justice in Canada’s history.

Chief Justice McLachlin’s legacy cannot be adequately cataloged. During her tenure on the Supreme Court, she authored over 400 majority opinions on the most consequential matters of legal interpretation under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including assistance in dying, the criminalization of prostitution, equality, free speech, and aboriginal rights.

Resources:
Truth Be Told: The Story of My Life and My Fight for Equality, Beverley McLachlin
Full Disclosure: A Novel, Beverley McLachlin
Her Honor: Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges
The Persons Case

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undefined - Schoolhouse Rock Redux: Louise Dubé, Executive Director of iCivics, on Using Gaming to Reimagine Civics Education to Energize our Youngest Citizens

Schoolhouse Rock Redux: Louise Dubé, Executive Director of iCivics, on Using Gaming to Reimagine Civics Education to Energize our Youngest Citizens

How do we teach students about civics and generate excitement around civic engagement in the 21st century? Like our ever-evolving American experiment, we try new tools. iCivics leverages a suite of interactive video games that put students at the center of the educational action.

By the time Justice O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court, she had grown increasingly concerned about the lack of understanding, awareness, and appreciation of the basic tenets of democracy and civic engagement during her time on the Court. In 2009, she founded iCivics and worked with a team of educators and engineers to reimagine and reinvigorate civics education through gaming. iCivics has become the nation’s premier non-profit civic education provider of high-quality, non-partisan, engaging, and FREE resources to more than 9 million students annually in all 50 states.

Today, we are honored to speak with Louise Dubé, the Executive Director of iCivics. Louise was born and raised in Quebec, Canada. After earning a law degree from McGill University in Montreal, she came to the US and earned an MBA from Yale. She became a US citizen. Working in the criminal justice system in New York in the 1990s, Louise co-founded CASES, a mentoring and skills program for young offenders that offered an alternative to incarceration. This experience ignited in Louise a passion for the transformative power of education, particularly the use of rapidly evolving technology to deliver memorable content. She and her team at iCivics are committed to activating our young citizens, preparing them to solve problems and engage in challenging but respectful debate in their communities.

Episode Links and Resources:
iCivics
Louise Dube Bio
CivXNow Coalition
Civics Secures Democracy Act
A Supreme Court Pioneer, Now Making Her Mark on Video Games, New York Times, March 27, 2016
New Poll Shows Strong Support for Civic Education Across Party Lines, Cision PR Newswire, October 27, 2022

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Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks.

Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co.