Rosemary Barkett (née Barakat; born August 29, 1939) is an American judge of the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal located in The Hague, Netherlands since 2013.
Born in Mexico to parents who were emigrants from Syria, she is recognized as the first woman, Arab American, and Hispanic judge (of Syrian descent) on the Florida Supreme Court.
"[4] Barkett left the convent in 1967, the same year that she received her Bachelor of Science degree from Spring Hill College, summa cum laude.
To remain on the state Supreme Court, Barkett survived a rancorous merit retention election in 1992, receiving a favorable vote of 61 percent.
[8][9] On September 24, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Barkett to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (which reviews cases from Florida, Alabama, and Georgia).
[10] Barkett's nomination was hotly contested by newspaper columnists and such conservative politicians as Orrin Hatch, who was, at the time, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
As described in The New York Times, the left-leaning magazine Mother Jones, and a 2014 book, The Biblical Truth About America's Death Penalty, much of the focus was on Barkett's supposedly being soft on crime.
[13] In a 1994 New York Times op-ed, Anna Quindlen described how Barkett was Borked by such senators as Strom Thurmond, who "spelled out the gory details of every murder case in which the Chief Justice had voted to overturn death sentences.
While trying to paint Bill Clinton as soft on crime, the Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole included Barkett among 4 judges in his "judicial Hall of Shame."
As quoted in The New York Times and The American Prospect, Barkett's 2013 dissent included the following: "The idea that courts are not permitted to acknowledge that a mistake has been made which would bar an execution is quite incredible for a country that not only prides itself on having the quintessential system of justice but attempts to export it to the world as a model of fairness.
The United States Supreme Court took up both of these cases (Maples v. Thomas and Holland v. Florida) and then overturned both of the decisions, essentially agreeing with Barkett's dissent.
As quoted in The Advocate, Barkett's dissent underlined the disparity: "In a very real sense, Florida's adoption statute treats homosexuals less favorably than even those individuals with characteristics that may pose a threat to the well-being of children."
[33] While serving on the federal bench, Barkett long taught a seminar on Human Rights and Comparative Constitutions at Columbia Law School with Professor Louis Henkin.
She has given lectures in countries throughout the world, including Syria, Qatar, Turkey, South Africa, Algeria, China, Haiti, Khyrgystan, and Mexico.
For example, she gave the 2015 Madison Lecture at New York University's law school, where she described how the U.S. lags behind their international peers with regards to protecting women and children's human rights.
[35] Barkett served as the 2015-16 Scholar in Residence at the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice at the law school at the City University of New York.
The Rosemary Barkett Award is presented annually by the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers to recognize efforts to provide equal justice.
[31] Barkett is also featured in a non-fiction children's book, A Kid's Guide to Arab-American History, alongside a description of immigration patterns and a recipe for making hummus.