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POLLS page 18
she has grappled with her fair Elks Club, which denied the local
share of extremely thorny cases, businesswoman membership sta-
including a long-running dis- tus and then waged the long bat-
crimination lawsuit against the tle against her in court, Judge
Rochester Elks Club. The high Gage said she was simply follow-
court upheld her decision to force ing the state's antidiscrimination
the club to open its membership law.
to women — a ruling that cut to
"It's not a feminist thing. That's
the bone of exclusionary policies what the Legislature said," she
practiced by some private clubs.
noted.
Judge Gage was the first judge
Bingham Farms attorney
in the county to confront a right- Leslie Greenwald admits he's bi-
to-die case involving .a Farming- ased toward Judge Gage — he ran
ton Hills quadriplegic who sought her first judicial campaign in 1978
to end his life by terminating life and has had many occasions to ar-
support. In a brief but poignant gue and try cases before her.
order, she wrote that she had no
"I remember when she first
authority to stop him. The ma- took the bench, how quickly she
chines that kept him alive were had her finger on the pulse of the
subsequently silenced.
court, and if you didn't know she
She's also turned to those with had just left the practice of law,
a different kind of expertise to help you'd swear she'd been doing it all
sort through cases that seemed her life," he said.
unresolvable. Years ago, she
All one has to do is consider the
turned to Rabbi Irwin
Groner of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek — where
she formerly served as a
trustee — for advice in a
case against a husband
who refused to grant his
wife a get (Jewish divorce
decree). Armed with ha-
lachic law, Judge Gage or-
dered the husband to serve
time in jail unless he com-
plied with his initial agree-
ment to set his wife free.
He chose the latter.
She appointed Rabbi
Groner someyears later to
mediate a bitter and long-
running dispute over mon-
ey between two brothers,
both physicians. The case
settled out of court.
The judge and Rabbi
Groner served on the state
Judicial Tenure Commis-
sion together.
On a lighter note, when Judge Hilda Gage: Higher aspirations.
she became chief judge of
Oakland County Circuit
Court in 1994, she ended the prac- kind of hardships she's faced and
tice of waiving lawsuit filing fees how she has handled them to see
for prison inmates. Her decision she is truly a "universal role mod-
came in the wake of a petition by el," Mr. Greenwald said.
a prisoner who wanted to sue an
"I don't know whether you call
assistant prosecutor but didn't it intestinal fortitude, courage, or
have any money. A list of expen- just that drive that gets people to
ditures showed he'd spent his do what doesn't seem possible,"
meager savings on pizza and cig- he said. "I know the energy that
arettes.
Hilda brings to whatever she
"This is clearly where the ac- does. If she walked into the
tion is," Judge Gage remarked Supreme Court tomorrow as the
about the circuit court.
new kid on the block, the rest
But the Michigan Supreme would be hard-put to keep up
Court, "that's where decisions with her."
have a lot more lasting value. You
Attorney Lawrence Kaluzny,
have a lot more opportunity to re- who says he tends to vote Demo-
flect and read and come out with cratic, said he'd hate to see Judge
well-reasoned decisions." Anoth- Gage win in November.
er impetus for jumping into the
"Selfishly, I don't want to see
race is that the current high court her go. She's one of my favorite
"is rewriting legislation," a cardi- judges. She's very bright, she's
nal sin to a Republican.
usually very courteous to attor-
"It's up to the Legislature to es- neys, and she makes her rulings
tablish public policy, and because based on what she thinks is right.
of that, I think I can make a con- I always enjoy trying cases in front
tribution. If the law is clear, you of her. I think she'd be a great ad-
have to give deference to the Leg- dition to any higher court, but I
islature," she said.
love having her here," he said.
In the case of the Rochester
Before winning her first term
PHOTO BY DANIEL LIPPITT
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