(Host) Judge Fred Parker, a Vermonter who served on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, has died. Parker was appointed to the federal bench in 1990. He was named to the 2nd Circuit in 1994.
Vermont Senator James Jeffords was a close friend. Parker, who was 65, worked as his deputy when Jeffords was state attorney general 30 years. Jeffords says that among Parker’s many accomplishments, he leaves a legacy in environmental law. He says that includes work to write Act 250, and a case that forced a paper company to clean up Lake Champlain.
(Jeffords) “I think for the people of Vermont the real legacy goes with his fight with me when he was chief of staff then in the Attorney General’s office. In my office when we got into developing Act 250 as well as preserving Vermont’s fresh waters and taking on the International Paper Company and the state of New York to clean up Lake Champlain. He was the stalwart in those, which in the long run are the most important to the state of Vermont that you might imagine.”
(Host) Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy said Parker was a moderate Republican who set aside politics in service to the law.