Re: The Wit and Wisdom of Harriet Miers
Wendy Girard
Meeting Monday or Tuesday.
Shall we go together?
WG
On 10/14/05, Dave Brice <slim_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
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>
> All quotes from Harriet Miers date from 1992, the year she served as
> President of the Texas Bar Association, and were gathered from the TBA's
> official publications, Texas Lawyer and the Texas Bar Journal. Miers's
> articles and memos for these periodicals are her most extensive body of
> publicly available writings.
>
>
>
> In July of that year, an unhappy divorcee went on a shooting rampage at a
> Houston courthouse, wounding two judges, two lawyers, and a bystander. What
> follows is Miers's response to the incident.
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> "The same liberties that ensure a free society make the innocent vulnerable
> to those who prevent rights and privileges and commit senseless and cruel
> acts. Those precious liberties include free speech, freedom to assemble,
> freedom of liberties, access to public places, the right to bear arms and
> freedom from constant surveillance. We are not willing to sacrifice these
> rights because of the acts of maniacs.
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> "Punishment of wrongdoers should be swift and sure. Only then can the
> criminal justice system serve as an effective deterrent. Those who would
> choose a rule of man rather than the rule of law must not escape fitting
> penalty. Again, the lack of adequate resources to support an overburdened
> criminal justice system looms as a reality. Punishment may come swift and
> sure in the Fort Worth slayings case because of their notoriety. But we
> cannot forget the other cases crying for justice languishing in courts
> throughout Texas and the nation.
>
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>
>
> (snip)
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> "Our sense of helplessness and inability to understand why tragedies like
> these have to occur should not cause anyone to attempt to explain the Fort
> Worth shootings as expressions of frustration with judges, lawyers or the
> justice system. Plain and simple, they are despicable acts—examples of the
> worst nature of man. The rest of us are challenged even more to demonstrate
> the best."
>
> Addressing the question of unequal access to the justice system, Miers
> wrote:
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> "More and more, the intractable problems in our society have one answer:
> broad--based intolerance of unacceptable conditions and a commitment by many
> to fix problems."
>
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> On the subject of achieving organizational goals, Miers offered her opinion
> that:
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> "An organization must also implement programs to fulfill strategies
> established through its goals and mission. Methods for evaluation of these
> strategies are a necessity. With the framework of mission, goals,
> strategies, programs, and methods for evaluation in place, a meaningful
> budgeting process can begin."
>
>
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> Finally, Harriet Miers answered the question of whether pro bono work should
> be mandatory for licensed attorneys this way:
>
>
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> "We have to understand and appreciate that achieving justice for all is in
> jeopardy before a call to arms to assist in obtaining support for the
> justice system will be effective. Achieving the necessary understanding and
> appreciation of why the challenge is so important, we can then turn to the
> task of providing the much needed support."
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