NLA update - SPRING 1996

Member Profile

JUDGE JOSEPH W. MOYLAN

Judge Joseph W. Moylan graduated from Creighton University Law School in 1960. After working briefly as a special attorney general for the State of Nebraska, he entered private practice in 1961. He remained in private practice until accepting a position as an assistant public defender in Douglas County. He served as a public defender for 18 months and then returned to private practice, where he remained until 1972, at which time he went on the bench. Judge Moylan served with distinction as a juvenile court judge in Douglas County, Nebraska from 1972 until 1993.

In 1991, the Nebraska Legislature passed a law which required that notice be given to a parent of any pregnant mother 17 years of age or younger who requested abortion. The law also provided for a "judicial bypass" in the event the mother did not want to notify her parent(s). On August 25, 1993, Judge Moylan was randomly assigned a case involving a minor who sought a judicial bypass. In Judge Moylan's view, to recuse himself from the case would have been a direct violation of the Code of Judicial Ethics. He therefore had to hear the case and either authorize the abortion or refuse the abortion or resign. Judge Moylan chose to resign. In his letter of resignation to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nebraska, Judge Moylan quoted President Lincoln's injunction that "no law can give me the right to do what is wrong." Judge Moylan received national attention upon resigning rather than authorizing a minor to obtain an abortion pursuant to Nebraska's judicial bypass provisions.

EUGENE N. BULSO, JR.

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