Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson (born July 21, 1953) is a

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

anian lawyer, judge, and moderate

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician. She served as the Attorney General of Guam, a

U.S. territory In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). The United States asserts sovereign rights for ...

, from 1987 to 1994 and again from 2015 to 2019. She is the longest-serving attorney general in Guamanian history and was the first woman to serve as attorney general.

Biography

Barrett-Anderson is the daughter of Jack Barrett (1917–1987) and Concepcion "Chong" Cruz Barrett (1915–1993), a former senator of the

Guam Legislature The Legislature of Guam ( ch, Liheslaturan Guåhan) is the law-making body for the United States territory of Guam. The unicameral legislative branch consists of fifteen senators, each serving for a two-year term. All members of the legislature a ...

. Barrett-Anderson earned her B.A. at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

and her J.D. at the University of Santa Clara School of Law. She was the first

Chamorro Chamorro may refer to: * Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific * Chamorro language, an Austronesian language indigenous to The Marianas * Chamorro Time Zone, the time zone of Guam and the Northern Mari ...

woman to be admitted to practice law in Guam. She operated a private law practice on Guam until she was appointed Attorney General by Governor

Joseph Franklin Ada Joseph Franklin Ada (born December 3, 1943), better known as Joseph F. Ada, is an American (U.S. citizen) politician who served as the 5th Governor of Guam from 1987 to 1995. Before his accession to the governorship, Ada previously served as the 3 ...

in 1987. She later won election to the office. She resigned as attorney general in 1994 to run for the

, where she served two terms. In 1997, she was appointed to the

Superior Court of Guam The Supreme Court of Guam is the highest judicial body of the United States territory of Guam. The Court hears all appeals from the Superior Court of Guam and exercises original jurisdiction only in cases where a certified question is submitted ...

by Governor Carl T.C. Gutierrez, and she was confirmed as a judge by the Legislature in 1998. In 1990, she opposed the enactment of a law restricting abortion to cases in which the life of the mother is threatened. When it passed and became the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., she said her role had "now shifted to one of law enforcement". In 2014, twenty years after she left the post of Attorney General, she ran again for the office and won, defeating incumbent

Leonardo Rapadas Leonardo Matias Rapadas, better known as Lenny Rapadas, is a Guamanian lawyer, who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands from 2003 to 2010 and as the attorney general of Guam from 2011 to 2015. ...

by a wide margin in the November 2014 general election. In April 2015, Barrett-Anderson ordered the director of the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services to begin processing

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

licenses on April 15, 2015, which would have made Guam the first U.S. territory to allow same-sex marriage.

References

External links

Official site
, - 1953 births 21st-century American politicians Attorneys General of Guam Chamorro people Guamanian judges Guamanian lawyers Living people Members of the Legislature of Guam Santa Clara University alumni University of San Francisco alumni {{Guam-politician-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links