Last June, Michelle Barr received a confusing piece of mail at her Mt. Lebanon home. The letter was for her 11-year-old daughter, Violet, with a return address from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
At first, Ms. Barr, an attorney, wondered if the letter was meant for her. But because she didnโt have any matters pending before the Supreme Court, she waited to give it to Violet when she got home.
When they opened it, they were stunned. Violet, who loves to write, had entered an essay contest a couple months before about the importance of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In the essay, she cheekily said that she planned on being elected chief justice of the Supreme Court one day.
The essay tickled the sitting chief justice, Max Baer, so much that he wrote her a personalized response.
โI very much enjoyed it and wanted to both thank you for taking the time to write and encouraging you to follow your passion,โ he wrote.
He followed up by saying that he lived close by her in Mt. Lebanon and that his sons had gone to the same schools that she did. He also enclosed a copy of the Pennsylvania Constitution as a โready resourceโ that she could discuss with her mom, and invited her to see the Supreme Court argue cases in Pittsburgh in late October. If she could come, he said, he hoped that they could meet and that he could introduce her to the rest of the court.
He closed with โI will watch for the headline of your election to our court.โ
The letter was overwhelming for both Violet and her mother, who certainly didnโt expect a personalized response from the chief justice of the stateโs highest court.
โI was so surprised because I just did it for fun,โ said Violet. โI loved it so much. I just felt so special after that.โ
Violet gave the letter the ultimate platform for an 11-year-old: She posted a picture of it on her Snapchat and made a TikTok story.
โPeople paused it and read it and they were going crazy,โ she said.
Her mom also posted the letter on her LinkedIn page, where it went somewhat viral, receiving more than 15,000 impressions in just a few hours. Comments on the page were full of praise for Violet, but also for Chief Justice Baer, who made his mark in juvenile court in Allegheny County before serving on the Supreme Court.
โThe kindness he shows to your daughter is just a glimpse of how great, kind and gentle this legal giant is,โ said one.
The post has since gotten more than 700,000 impressions, said Ms. Barr, who works as judicial education coordinator for OurFamilyWizard, a coparenting communication platform, and as a court-appointed guardian ad litem representing children in dependency and divorce custody matters.
They planned to see Mr. Baer when he came for the courtโs term in October but were shocked โ along with the rest of Pennsylvania โ to hear that he died in his sleep the night of Sept. 30, only months before he was scheduled to retire.
Violet had sent him a thank you letter after getting his letter, but isnโt sure that he ever got it.
She and her mother went to court in late October anyway, getting special treatment escorted by a sheriffโs officer.
โI still went and watched an argument โ it was so neat,โ Violet said. โI wish I got to meet him. He did so much good for our world.โ
Anya Sostek: asostek@post-gazette.com.
First Published: December 14, 2022, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: December 14, 2022, 11:12 a.m.
