ACTIVELY SENIOR
Above: Judge Segal dons her robes. Left: Anne Segal at her desk.
Anne Segal: Guided by a sense of justice By Mala Blomquist
A
nne Segal grew up hearing stories of what it was like to be a judge from her mother, Lillian Fisher, who was elected to the Pima County Superior Court in 1974. Lillian stated in an interview before her death in 2015 that what meant the most to her in her career was establishing the Court Appointed Special Advocates program for neglected and abused children. Anne’s deep sense of justice led her to follow in her mother’s footsteps. “I went to law school, I worked in different capacities, had three children, and we were living in this little town of Las 36
MARCH/APRIL 2020 | ARIZONA JEWISH LIFE
Cruces, NM – not a big Jewish population,” jokes Anne. “We were there for 10 years, and there was an opportunity for me to run for office for the magistrate court. I ran, and I won.” She worked as a judge in New Mexico for four years before the family decided to return to Tucson in 2004 to be closer to both her husband, Dr. Robert Segal and her family. They were in Tucson a few years when Anne learned that one of the judges who was in her precinct was appointed to the position of justice of the peace because his mother-inlaw was on the board of supervisors. Anne felt that if you wanted that position, you should run for it and win it, not be appointed to it. And that’s precisely what she did. In 2008, she ran, won the election and became Pima County Justice of the Peace in Precinct One. “I think Jewish people have a heart that’s guided by a sense of justice. I mean, if something happens that’s unjust, we’re really incensed by it,” she says. “How do you get a sense of being a good judge? I think it’s by being a good Jewish citizen.” Anne jokes that when people hear the term “justice of the peace,” they think she rides a horse to work. The truth is that they hear the misdemeanors that occurred in the county. “So if a person is a drunk driving case, possession of small quantities of drugs, domestic violence, some traffic offenses, theft and shoplifting, the justice of the peace will preside
