Betty Cantrell Roberts (February 5, 1923 – June 25, 2011) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and judge from the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. She was the 83rd justice of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate Court of Appeals, appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem, Oregon, Salem. Except for death penalty cas ...

. Roberts served from 1982 to 1986 on the high court and from 1977 to 1982 on the Court of Appeals. A native of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

and raised in Texas, Roberts had previously been elected to both chambers of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, but lost bids for the governor's office and the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, both in 1974. She was married three times, including to Frank L. Roberts and Keith Skelton, both of whom she would serve with in the Oregon Legislative Assembly. She was a private mediator and senior judge until her death due to

pulmonary fibrosis Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failu ...

Early life

Betty Cantrell was born in Arkansas City, Kansas, on February 5, 1923."Betty Roberts", ''

Statesman Journal The ''Statesman Journal'' is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the ''Oregon Statesman'', it later merged with the ''Capital Journal'' to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Orego ...

'', March 25, 2007.O'Neil, Katherine
“Women Trailblazers in the Law: Oral History Betty Roberts, Tape 6, Side 1”
ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, 2005. Retrieved March 24, 2009. When she was six, her father became partially paralyzed and the family moved to Texas to be near her mother's family. In Texas, Roberts was raised poor during the Great Depression of the 1930s.ABA: 2006 Margaret Brent Awards: Betty Roberts.
American Bar Association. Retrieved January 22, 2008. She graduated from high school and then attended Texas Wesleyan College in Ft. Worth for one year starting in 1940.The Honorable Betty Roberts Former Oregon Supreme Court Justice.
NEW Leadership Oregon. Retrieved January 22, 2008. In 1942 during

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

she married John Willard (Bill) Rice, a young soldier from Oregon who was stationed at

Sheppard Field Sheppard Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located north of the central business district of Wichita Falls, in Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the largest training base and most diversified in Air Educati ...

. After the war they moved to Oregon, where Bill was a banker, with the family living in Klamath Falls, Lakeview, Gresham, and La Grande. By the 1950s Roberts was the mother of four children, Dian, John Jr., Jo, and Randy. Roberts enrolled at Eastern Oregon College in La Grande for a single year in 1955.Zarov, Ira
“Feature: Book Review: A “Tell-enough” Memoir: Chronicle of a 20th Century Pioneer”
''The Oregon State Bar Bulletin'', May 2008, Vol. 68, p. 38. After the family moved to Portland, she enrolled at Portland State College where she graduated in 1958 with a bachelor of science degree in education. From 1958 to 1967, Roberts taught high school in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

at Reynolds High School, Centennial High School, and

David Douglas High School David Douglas High School (DDHS) is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is a part of the David Douglas School District. In 1998 Lynn Olson, author of ''The School-to-work Revolution: How Employers And Educators Are Joinin ...

before moving on to teach business law and political science at

Mt. Hood Community College Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) is a public community college in Gresham, Oregon, United States, named after Mount Hood. Opened in 1966, MHCC enrolls around 30,000 students each year and offers classes at the main campus in Gresham, as well a ...

from 1967 to 1976.Leeson, F. (1998). ''Rose City Justice: A Legal History of Portland, Oregon''. Portland, Or: Oregon Historical Society Press, Published in cooperation with the Oregon State Bar. pp.195–199. She and Bill Rice divorced in 1959. She became a member of the Lynch Elementary School District school board, serving from 1960 to 1966. She married Frank L. Roberts in 1960, adopting his name and retaining it after their divorce in 1965. Roberts went on to earn a master's degree in political science from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in 1962. She then attended Northwestern School of Law (now

Lewis & Clark Law School The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon. The law school received ABA approval in 1970 and joined the As ...

) in Portland, where she graduated in 1966 with her Juris Doctor. She earned her degree while attending evening classes at the school, much like she earned her early degrees. During this time she was still teaching high school and successfully ran for a seat in Oregon's

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

Political career

Elected in 1964 to the Oregon House as a Democrat from

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Th ...

, Roberts won re-election in 1966. In 1968, she won election to the

Oregon Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Sena ...

representing Multnomah County in District 12, and was the only woman in the Oregon Senate at that time. That same year she married fellow legislator Keith D. Skelton, but retained the Roberts surname. However, the

Oregon State Bar The Oregon State Bar Association (OSBA) is a public corporation and instrumentality of the Oregon Judicial Department in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulat ...

, ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'' newspaper, and the state elections division refused to abide by her decision. She threatened legal action, and eventually was no longer referred to as Mrs. Betty Skelton. While in the Senate she was a cosponsor of the

Oregon Bottle Bill The Oregon Bottle Bill is a container-deposit legislation enacted in the U.S. state of Oregon in 1971 that went into effect in October 1972. It was the first such legislation in the United States. It was amended in 2007 and 2011. It requires ...

that passed in 1971, the first of its kind in the nation. In 1972, Roberts was re-elected to the Senate for another four-year term. In 1974, Roberts ran for governor of Oregon (the fifth woman to do so), but lost in the Democratic primary to

Robert W. Straub Robert William Straub (May 6, 1920 – November 27, 2002) was an American politician and businessman from the state of Oregon. A native of San Francisco, California, he settled in Eugene, Oregon, where he entered politics. A Democratic politici ...

. Later that year, following the death of Democratic nominee

Wayne Morse Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was an American attorney and United States Senator from Oregon. Morse is well known for opposing his party's leadership and for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds. ...

, she was picked by the Democratic Party to run on the November ballot for the

, an unsuccessful bid against incumbent

Bob Packwood Robert William Packwood (born September 11, 1932) is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon and a member of the Republican Party. He resigned from the United States Senate, under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of ...

. In 1975, she was named the Education Citizen of the Year Award by the

Oregon Education Association The Oregon Education Association (OEA) is the largest public education employees' union in the U.S. state of Oregon, representing 44,000 teachers and classified personnel. It has local affiliates in each of the state's 199 public school districts, ...

and the Woman of the Year by the Oregon Women's Political Caucus. The next year the Oregon Conference of Seventh Day Adventists gave her their Liberty Award. During this time Roberts also served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1968, 1972, and 1976, while also practicing law at the firm Skelton & Roberts from 1967 to 1977. She chaired

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

's presidential campaign in Oregon in 1976.

Judicial career

On September 1, 1977, Governor Robert W. Straub, a former opponent, appointed Roberts to the

Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate Court of Appeals, appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem, Oregon, Salem. Except for death penalty cas ...

to a new position, along with W. Michael Gillette, George M. Joseph, and John Buttler, when the court expanded from six to ten positions.Oregon Blue Book: Election History of Oregon.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved January 22, 2008.Oregon Blue Book: Oregon Court of Appeals Judges.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved January 22, 2008. Roberts was the first woman on that court, as well as the first on any

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

in Oregon.Previous Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award Recipients.
American Bar Association. Retrieved January 22, 2008. The next year, she was up for election to retain her seat on the court, and won the election to a full six-year term. While on the court, she faced discrimination from some judges due to her gender, as the chief judge had been against the nomination of a woman to the court. Prior to completing her term on the court, Roberts resigned on February 8, 1982, when she was appointed by Governor Victor G. Atiyeh to the Oregon Supreme Court.Oregon Blue Book: Supreme Court Justices of Oregon.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved January 22, 2008. She was appointed to replace the retiring Justice

Thomas Tongue Thomas H. Tongue III (February 12, 1912 – May 31, 1994) was an American jurist in the state of Oregon. A native of the state, he served as the 75th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving 13 years on the state's highest court. Tongue w ...

, becoming the first woman on the Supreme Court. Later that year, she won election to a full six-year term on the court. In 1982, she wrote the opinion in ''State v. Charles'' (293 Or. 273), which adopted the

duty to retreat In law, the duty to retreat, or requirement of safe retreat,''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, /ref> is a legal requirement in some jurisdictions th ...

in Oregon.Mason, Thomas L. "Feature: The Well-Armed Lawyer: Guns, Deadly Force and the Duty to Retreat in Oregon", ''The Oregon State Bar Bulletin'', December 1995, Vol. 56, p. 9. This requires people to attempt to retreat in most situations before one could use deadly force, even in self-defense. That same year she wrote the opinion in the workers' compensation case, ''Hewitt v. SAIF'', that men and women have equal rights under the Oregon Constitution, and so effectively gave Oregon an Equal Rights Amendment. Roberts was the sole dissenting justice in ''Bank of Oregon v. Independent News'' (298 Ore. 434), when the court ruled that banks were not public figures, making it easier for banks and their officials to sue journalists for libel. While on the bench, Roberts was recognized by both the

and

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decad ...

for distinguished service. On February 7, 1986, she resigned her position on the court.O'Neil, Katherine
“Women Trailblazers in the Law: Oral History Betty Roberts, Tape 6, Side 1”
ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, November 16, 2005. Retrieved March 24, 2009. Roberts left in part due to the heavy workload of the job, in part due to the daily commute between her home in Portland and the Oregon Supreme Court Building in Salem, partly due to the stress of the job, and in part because her husband was retiring and asked her to travel with him.

Later years and family

Robert's marriage to Keith Skelton lasted until his death on October 23, 1995. In 1986, Oregon's

Mary Leonard Mary Leonard (c. 1845–October 24, 1912) was an American attorney and accused murderer in the state of Oregon. A native of France, she was acquitted for the murder of her husband that many believed she had committed. After her trial, she s ...

Law Society for women attorneys gave Roberts their Distinguished Service Award, and the following year the

Oregon State Bar Association The Oregon State Bar Association (OSBA) is a public corporation and instrumentality of the Oregon Judicial Department in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulat ...

granted her an Award of Merit, with the Oregon

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

awarding her a Civil Liberties Award. After leaving the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.arbitrator. Roberts helped organize opposition in Oregon to Robert Bork's U.S. Supreme Court nomination. From 1988 to 1991 she was a visiting professor in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

. In 1988, she received recognition from Portland State University, Oregon State University, and

. She also served on the state's Commission on Higher Education in the late 1980s. In 1992, Roberts was given the award bearing her name from the Oregon Women Lawyers. She earned the E. B. MacNaughton Civil Liberties Award from the ACLU in 2004. In March 2004, she presided over the first legal

same-sex marriage in Oregon Same-sex marriage in Oregon has been legally recognized since May 19, 2014, when Judge Michael J. McShane of the U.S. District Court for the District Court of Oregon ruled in '' Geiger v. Kitzhaber'' that Oregon's 2004 state constitutional amend ...

, which was held during a brief period when Multnomah County issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In 2006, the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

awarded her the Margaret Brent Award from its Commission on Women in the Profession. As of 2008, Roberts served as a private mediator in the Portland area, and was a senior judge in Oregon, subject to recall to serve as a temporary judge. Her autobiography, ''With Grit and By Grace, Breaking Trails in Politics and Law'', was published in 2008. Roberts died in her Portland home of

on June 25, 2011. Representative

Earl Blumenauer Earl Francis Blumenauer ( ; born August 16, 1948) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1996. The district includes most of Portland east of the Willamette River. A member of the Democrat ...

stated "She was one of a kind.... for over a quarter century, Betty Roberts had as much impact on the political process as anyone in Oregon."

References

External links

*"Oral History of Betty Roberts", an extensive interview by the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. Transcript, in six parts
1

23456

The Living History of Women in the LawBetty Roberts - (1923-2011)
in the ''

Oregon Encyclopedia The ''Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' is a collaborative encyclopedia focused on the history and culture of the U.S. state of Oregon. Description The encyclopedia is a project of Portland State University Portland State Universi ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Betty 1923 births 2011 deaths Respiratory disease deaths in Oregon Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis Eastern Oregon University alumni Lawyers from Portland, Oregon Lewis & Clark Law School alumni Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Oregon Court of Appeals judges Democratic Party Oregon state senators Oregon State University faculty Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court People from Arkansas City, Kansas People from Texas Portland State University alumni Roberts family of Oregon School board members in Oregon University of Oregon alumni Women state legislators in Oregon Writers from Oregon 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women judges American women academics 21st-century American women