Profile of Justice Peggy Quince
From the Alumni Magazine of the Catholic University of America, a profile of that towering figure of jurisprudence, the Honorable PEGGY QUINCE:
The stretch from studying animals to administering justice in Florida’s highest court of law is a long one, but that is the path taken by the Sunshine State’s newest supreme court justice.
Justice Peggy A. Quince, whose undergraduate degree is in zoology, recalls how she was influenced by former CUA law professor Lawrence R. Velvel, now dean of the Massachusetts School of Law in Andover, Mass. "He made us really think about how the law can be used to solve our social problems. He used the law and the courts to draw our attention to them. [We saw] how he espoused his positions and filed lawsuits protesting U.S. involvement in the war."
She decided to study law at Catholic University while working on her bachelor of science degree at Howard University in the late 1960s. After receiving her degree, Justice Quince said her "life took a different path."
"A lot of issues were percolating in those years, including the Vietnam War," she said. After receiving her law degree, she worked in Washington, adjudicating the new rent-control law until 1977.
She worked briefly in her native Norfolk, Va., before moving to Bradenton, Fla., to practice general civil law for two years. Justice Quince joined the Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Office in 1980. In 1994 she was appointed by the then-Gov. Lawton Chiles to the Second District Court of Appeal, where she served until her 1998 appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. She is the state’s first black female justice to serve.
On one day, Justice Quince had separate interviews with both Gov. Chiles, now deceased, and then-Governor-Elect Jeb Bush. The following week, while at work in the Tampa Second District Court of Appeal, she was informed by telephone that she had been selected as the new supreme court justice. She was "pleasantly surprised and honored," because the other three candidates "were judges highly regarded in the legal community."
She is described as a good manager by her previous employer.
"A good manager," she elaborates, "is not only knowledgeable in [his field], but has a feeling for people. He is willing to listen to the kinds of problems people have. That is the mark of a good manager."
Justice Quince’s recent appointment to the supreme court of Florida was unique. It was the first time the appointment has ever been made jointly by both the out-going and incoming governors, in this case, Gov. Chiles and Gov.-Elect Bush, respectively. "The judicial position is a service position," Justice Quince states. "One is helping to shape and mold the law of the state. Helping to interpret the law and constitution is a service."
Her goal is to do the very best job that she can to administer justice. Justice Quince, who attends a Baptist church, said, "Each day I ask the Lord for guidance as I undertake my duties as a judge ... our lives should be lived according to Scripture."
Justice Quince is married to fellow law school alumnus Fred L. Buckine, J.D. 1975. They have two daughters. |
