OUR OWN “JUDGE TINA”
By Marjorie J. Hurst
There is something very
intimidating about a person who wears a black robe to work every day. Maybe it is because they get to look down at
you from their high perch. Or maybe it’s
because you know that your fate is in their hands (whether you are lawyer,
plaintiff or defendant). Whatever the
reason, it is scary being in the presence of “The Judge”.
So-called reality television shows
starring judges (although sometimes laughable) serve to drive home the point that
the judge is the boss and has the power to make you or break you. And maybe that’s why some people aspire to
become judges. After all, having all
that power is very heady stuff, and, unfortunately, carries with it the
potential for misuse. For most, however,
it is simply an opportunity to do justice on a higher level.
For those who know The Honorable Tina S.
Page, Associate Justice of the Superior Court for the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, the latter description applies.
Becoming the first Black Superior Court Judge in Western Massachusetts
and the second Black female Superior Court Judge in the entire state was simply
a natural progression for this hard-working, intelligent Black woman from
Harlem who knew that she wanted to become a lawyer at an early age. A friend recalls Judge Page saying as they
were growing up, “I know I am going to become a lawyer because I have a very
argumentative personality!”
According to Judge Page, “It was, and
still is, a sense of idealism…righting wrongs and just representing people who
didn’t have a voice,” that drew her to the legal profession. One might speculate that her sense of
fighting for the underdog was fine-tuned by the times in which she grew up. She graduated from high school in 1967 at the
time when a lot was going on in the country.
She remembers the days of protesting against the war and participating
in campus demonstrations and other activities at Long Island University.
After two years of undergraduate work,
she left college and got a job at CBS as a secretary and soon realized that was
not what she wanted to do with her life.
So she returned to academia and attended Hunter College, a part of the
City University of New York system.
After graduation, she worked for another couple of years to save money
to attend law school. And when Western
New England College School of Law offered her a full scholarship, she accepted
and was on her way to fulfill her destiny.
Described as “tough” by some, this judge
is simply not a pushover. She has
experienced life and brings the sum total of her experiences with her to the
bench. And although she doesn’t dwell on
the negative, she has had her share of disappointments and difficult life
situations. What she tries to impart to
others, especially young women, is that you cannot lose sight of your
goals. Happily married to Springfield
native, Craig Grandison, Judge Page remained in Springfield upon graduating
from law school and continued to set higher and higher goals for herself.
After spending six years in private
practice, Judge Page joined the district attorney’s staff under the then
newly-elected District Attorney, William Bennett. She started out as a prosecutor in Holyoke
District Court and then was transferred to Springfield District Court and worked
in the first Domestic Violence Unit.
Within three years, she was promoted to the Superior Court.
Judge Page was sworn into office on
When she sits in criminal court sessions,
especially in urban areas, she often finds that the majority of people who come
before her are young minorities. Her
perspective on this fact is, “We are in trouble! It is so disheartening…to look out on a sea
of people waiting to have their cases called and you can probably count on one
hand the number of Caucasian people who have cases on the list.” She further states that “The erosion of a
strong traditional family base has created this nightmare…and we are going on
three generations that are lost.” Nevertheless, she
loves her job and wouldn’t want to do anything else. Although the discretionary power of judges to
formulate their own sentences is being eroded every day, she deals with
defendants on an individual basis and tries to fashion terms and conditions of
probation that she believes are meaningful.
On a personal level, Judge Page finds
that “one of the life style changes of being a judge is the isolation. There are so many things that you cannot do
as a judge--like go out for lunch with lawyers and make political
contributions. You even have to be careful at which restaurants you eat!” Professionally, Judge Page feels very
strongly about the number of persons of color who want to be excused from jury
duty. The bottom line effect is that it
deprives minority defendants of the chance to be judged by a jury of their
peers. And then we sit back and complain
about the system (my words not hers).
And what if someone happened to come knocking on her door with an offer for a “Judge Tina” T.V. show, would she take it? Although she loves her job and looks forward to going to work each day, Judge Page has never been accused of being crazy! n