Title
Proclamation honoring the Honorable Elizabeth Pollard Hines
Memorandum
PROCLAMATION
Honoring Hon. Elizabeth Pollard Hines
October 19, 2020
WHEREAS, Judge Elizabeth “Libby” Hines, the longest serving judge on the Fifteenth District Court, was elected in 1992 and is the first woman to serve as a District Court judge in Washtenaw County; and
WHEREAS, Judge Hines has been a resident of the City of Ann Arbor for 50 years, and received her law degree and undergraduate degree with great distinction from the University of Michigan; and
WHEREAS, Judge Hines has worked to address the underlying causes that contribute to illegal behavior to make our community safer and to improve outcomes for those who come before her; and
WHEREAS, In 1996, Judge Hines was the first or among the first nationally to start judicial review hearings of domestic violence cases; and
WHEREAS, Judge Hines’s court was selected as one of three sites in the country to see what works best with judicial reviews/monitoring in domestic violence cases in a 5-year, multi-million-dollar DOJ study; and
WHEREAS, Judge Hines’s court has served as both a national and worldwide model for handling domestic violence cases where judges from all over the country and world have come to observe her courtroom; and
WHEREAS, Judges Hines has helped train hundreds of Michigan judges and more than a thousand judges from across the United States and Canada on judicial best practices in handling domestic violence cases; and
WHEREAS, In 2005, Judge Hines helped create and launch a Street Outreach Court that uses a team approach to deal with issues of homelessness while addressing criminal issues, which has been modeled by other courts throughout Michigan; and
WHEREAS, Judge Hines has served as a leader on access to justice issues, recently serving on the National Task Force on Fines, Fees and Bail Practices, where she helped create the bench card used by judges nationally on the issue; and
WHEREAS, In 2011, Judge Hines’s fellow judges selected her to receive the first annual "Judicial Excellence Award" from the Michigan District Judges Association; and
WHEREAS, In 2012, the American Judges Association created a new award called the “Judge Elizabeth Hines Award” to honor a judge in the United States or Canada who has taken innovative steps to reduce domestic violence, with Judges Hines as the first recipient; and
WHEREAS, In 2018, the National Center for State Courts selected Judge Hines to receive the “William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence,” one of the nation’s highest judicial honors. The award, presented to Judge Hines by Chief Justice Roberts at a ceremony at the United States Supreme Court, is given annually to one judge who is taking bold steps to address a variety of issues affecting their community.
NOW THEREFORE, I, Christopher Taylor, Mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan, do hereby proclaim October 19, 2020 the day on which we honor the Honorable Elizabeth Pollard Hines, and recognize the outstanding contributions she has made to our community and justice system.
I hereby set my hand and seal
This 19th day of October, 2020
_________________________
Christopher Taylor
Mayor of the City of Ann Arbor