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Standing With Our Asian and Asian-American Community

The following statement was issued by Dean Laura Rosenbury on March 19, 2021. 

Dear UF Law Community,

The horrific murders in Atlanta earlier this week are yet another example of the rise of anti-Asian violence during the Covid-19 global pandemic.  Members of Asian American Pacific Islander communities have been subject to physical and verbal assault at alarming rates across the United States, including here in Florida.

I condemn this racism, bigotry, and violence.  Anti-Asian hate and xenophobic rhetoric have no place in a society committed to equality and the rule of law, and they certainly have no place here at UF Law.

Our nation is a community of many races, ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds.  Our law school community, like the entire nation, is enriched by the contributions of our diverse student body, alumni, faculty, and staff, including our Asian colleagues.  For those of us who are not directly affected by these acts of violence, it is our collective responsibility to work together to stop acts of hatred whenever and wherever we can.

Our campus is a place where everyone should feel welcome, and we will continue to strive for a more inclusive environment.  Assistant Dean for Inclusion Michelle Smith will provide updates on our current racial justice initiatives in the coming days.  In the meantime, members of our Asian Pacific American Law Student Association encourage any UF Law community member to reach out to apalsaatuflaw@gmail.com.  I thank APALSA’s leadership in this matter, in solidarity with our Black Law Students Association and Latin Law Students Association, and their ongoing work with our admissions team to advance student diversity at UF Law.

As I wrote in January, the world needs lawyers and law students now more than ever.  We must affirm and bolster the rule of law by increasing access to justice, condemning hate and racism, and using law to promote equality and a more inclusive society.

LAR

Laura Ann Rosenbury
Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law

Published: March 22nd, 2021

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.