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Senate Judiciary Committee hearing; on Judge Beaty's nomination, 1994
Topic Started: Oct 16 2010, 03:41 PM (202 Views)
Quasimodo

(note the intense, probing questions...) :SarC:

http://www.archive.org/stream/confirmationhear06unit/confirmationhear06unit_djvu.txt

(1994)

Senator Metzenbaum:

Mr. Beaty, we will have you come for-
ward.

Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Judge Beaty:

I do, sir.

Senator Metzenbaum:


Thank you.

Senator Hatch:

Senator Metzenbaum, if I could, in regard to
Judge Beaty, we welcome you, Judge Beaty, who has been nomi-
nated to be on the Federal District Court for the Middle District
of North Carolina.

Senator Helms had planned to appear before the committee to in-
troduce you. He asked me to make this statement. However, inas-
much as Judge Beaty was placed on our agenda for today's hearing
only this morning, Senator Helms was unable to get out of a prior
commitment and make his way over here, so he feels badly about
that.

He did ask me to thank the committee for its prompt handling
of this nomination and would like consent to have a statement on
behalf of Judge Beaty included in the record in this hearing.

[The prepared statement of Senator Helms follows:]

(snip)

Senator Hatch:

Frankly, Senator Metzenbaum, I don't think I
have to ask this nominee any questions.
I am prepared to support
him all the way through, and do it in a vigorous manner.

Senator Metzenbaum:

Thank you. Senator Hatch.

Judge Beaty, do you have any opening statement you care to
make?

Judge Beaty:

No opening statement.
Senator, other than to
thank you for the opportunity to be here and also to recognize my
wife who is with me today, Toy. My son could not be here. He is
off in school at the School of Science and Math in Durham, NC.
Other than that, thank you for being here.

QUESTIONING BY SENATOR METZENBAUM

Senator Metzenbaum:

Thank you, and let me just ask you one
question.
You have been a State court judge for 13 years. Before
that, you were an active litigator for a number of years. Given your
background and prior experience, please speak about the role and
significance of judicial temperament and indicate what elements of
this temperament you consider the most important.

Judge Beaty:

Senator, judicial temperament certainly is very im-
portant. I have tried to make that one of the guiding lights of my
service as a judge to make sure that everyone has an opportunity
to be heard. As a part of that is included a great deal of patience.
Having a listening ear and a great deal of patience — I think carry-
ing that into any judiciary is certainly most important for judicial
temperament.

Senator Metzenbaum:

Mr. Beaty, there is a cloture vote on at
this moment and Senator Hatch and I have an obligation to get
there, but we also have an obligation to hear from Judge Briones.
I think you are well on your way. I think the pressures of time are
working in your favor, not against you, so we will excuse you and
go forward with Judge Briones, but we are going to make every ef-
fort to confirm you before we conclude this session.

Thank you very much.

Judge Beaty:

Thank you. Senator. Thank you. Senator Hatch.

Senator Hatch:

It almost seems a waste of time coming up here,
doesn't it?


Judge Beaty:

Never a waste of time. Thank you for yours.

Senator Hatch:

We are always glad to hear that.

Senator Metzenbaum:

Not too bad.

Senator Hatch:

You did great.
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abb
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Excellent investigative reporting. We need to know all there is to know about Beaty.
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Quasimodo

Quote:
 
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2000/10/12/duke0001012.html

Duke must dole out $2-million US for discriminating

Last Updated: Thursday, October 12, 2000
CBC Sports

A jury awarded a female place-kicker $2 million US in punitive damages Thursday, ruling that Duke University cut her from the team solely because of her gender.

Jurors deliberated just over two hours before deciding that the school discriminated against Heather Mercer, who graduated in 1998.

A short time later, they ruled Duke must pay $1 in compensatory damages and the larger amount as punishment.

(snip)

Mercer "has suffered from depression, a loss of spirit and despair," attorney Burton Craige said.

"What they have taken is this spirit and replaced it with something else," Craige said. "They have changed this woman when she needed their support.

"Her parents entrusted her to Duke's care and look what they've done to her."


He didn't suggest an amount for punitive damages, saying the school should be punished because its officials knew about the discrimination as early as 1995 and did nothing.

"We need an award that gets Duke's attention,"
Craige said. "We need to get President (Nan) Keohane's attention so this doesn't happen again."

To award compensatory damages in the federal case, jurors had to find Mercer suffered actual financial losses because of Duke's actions.

For punitive damages, they had to find Duke acted with malice and reckless indifference.

(snip)

They later sought from Judge James Beaty a definition of the phrase "deliberate indifference," meaning whether Duke officials knew Mercer was having problems and did nothing to correct them.

(snip)


$2 million for reckless indifference and malice, which resulted in her not being allowed on a team.

Compare that with a year of death threats, a sullied reputations (the stigma of which still lasts),
immense legal costs, damage to more than forty families, a coach fired, etc.
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Quasimodo

Poster comment from 2008 at DIW:

Quote:
 
The judge's decision [to delay discovery] is troubling, since he puts no weight on the fact pointed out by the plaintiffs that the defendants have a history of destroying and falsifying evidence. Also, he makes a point of citing the law according to which (as he interprets it) if they do destroy evidence, there is no automatic penalty: it is up to him to decide whether to impose a penalty or not. Taken as a whole, the decision stops just short of outright encouraging the destruction of evidence. We have reason to be deeply suspicious of NC judges, and this ruling only adds further grounds for suspicion.

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Deleted User
Deleted User

" Duke acted with malice and reckless indifference." It looks like we have a precedent for the lax case. I think this phrase pretty well sums up Duke's conduct.
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