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Standing Together Amidst Tragedy

Dear UF Law Community,

The last week of May brought distressing news. The death toll from Covid-19 within the United States exceeded 100,000. Over 40 million people in the United States have now lost their jobs. Yet again, an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, following other tragic deaths of unarmed African-American men and women throughout the United States over the past weeks (and months, years, and centuries). We also witnessed a white woman in New York City call the police when an African-American man simply asked her to follow the law.

Throughout the history of our nation, law has been used both to enforce inequality and fight for social justice. The past week confirms the ongoing reality of that fact. Law supports the structures that produce disparate death rates on the basis of race, whether at the hands of the virus or the police. Law supports the economic inequality that makes lay-offs and furloughs so perilous for many individuals and families. At the same time, law provides an important vehicle for protesting and challenging these structures and inequalities.

As a law school, we condemn racism and other social inequalities, and we endeavor to provide the tools that will produce lasting change. We seek to educate the next generation that will promote and improve the rule of law, defend the Constitution, and protect the most vulnerable throughout our society. Much work remains to be done. Past generations have made progress, but last week reveals that future generations – our current and future students – will need to lead transformations of the rule of law with creativity and tenacity.

The Levin College of Law will do everything possible to support our students, staff, and faculty in this important and daunting task. We also stand in solidarity with our students, staff, and faculty of color and seek to support all members of our community as we live through these tragedies.

For students, we will offer an open forum to discuss these issues on Wednesday, June 3, at 5 pm. This is the time period of our regular Wellness Wednesday, and this week will be devoted to discussing the tragedies of the past week. Staff and faculty are also encouraged to attend in support of our students.

For staff and faculty, we will host an open discussion on Friday, June 5, at noon to come together and provide support for each other. We will also discuss what we might do as a community to effect lasting change.

Finally, so many of our faculty members have long been engaged in scholarship and advocacy designed to promote the rule of law, defend the Constitution, and protect the vulnerable. I thank the faculty for continuing to do so, and I stand ready to promote your work on these issues and to convene fora for ongoing discussions of your work.

The last week was distressing not because it was unique but because it provided a stark snapshot of longstanding inequalities throughout society. The pain of those inequalities may persist but so will hope for the future. I hope we will draw strength from our community at UF Law and support each other in every possible way.

LAR

Published: June 1st, 2020

Category: News

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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.