{“featuredImages”:[{“title”:””,”description”:””,”url”:”http://www.clarkcountycourts.us/wp-content/uploads/7529_image.png”}],”content”:”

On January 4, Judge Rhonda Forsberg was in a big hurry. This was the day that the entire Nevada Eighth Judicial District Court bench was required to swear their oath to uphold justice for the new term. The day before, Judge Forsberg took the oath of office from another judge in a park who lived near her because she tested positive for the coronavirus. It was outdoors, they had on masks and they kept their distance. That colleague wasn’t showing symptoms and it seemed fairly safe.

Upon arriving at the family courthouse on Monday morning, Judge Forsberg learned that there was a need for a volunteer to do a very special mission to swear in the newly elected department Z Judge Michele Mercer at the hospital. Judge Mercer had been admitted for the coronavirus on New Year’s Eve, and she was now on oxygen, surrounded by care-givers dressed in full hazmat suits.

Nevada law requires that judges must give their oath before another judicial officer in-person. When Judge Mercer learned she had to do the oath in-person, she said that she hoped the hospital would allow her to go to her car where envisioned someone empowered to take her oath would meet her, at least six feet away. But it quickly became clear that the hospital couldn’t release her – even for just a few minutes to solemnly swear that she would faithfully execute the duties of her new office. “I hoped and prayed that someone would come and swear me in,” said Judge Mercer. She remembered feeling understandably powerless and anxious.

Judge Forsberg knew what had to be done. Judge Mercer only had a hospital gown, so her husband met Judge Forsberg in the hospital parking lot and gave the judge his wife’s new judicial robe that he had just lovingly ironed. She took the robe and headed into the hospital, where the staff prepped her with plastic protective covering.

Judge Forsberg stopped short of the opened hospital room door and handed the robe to a nurse who transported it approximately 12 feet away, to soon-to-be-Judge Mercer, waiting nervously in the room. Judge Forsberg stood in the hallway near the entrance of the room, with Judge Mercer in her line-of-sight, as the latter hurriedly zipped up the brand new, freshly-pressed robe over her worn and wrinkled hospital gown. The nurse stood behind Judge Mercer and started recording the miniature ceremony. “OK, raise your right hand,” said Judge Forsberg.

Despite being in the throws of fighting the deadly virus, Judge Mercer rallied herself to robe up, put her hand on the Bible and swear her oath. Once it was over, she collapsed back onto her hospital bed, exhausted from the ordeal.

She was released from the hospital three days later, still on oxygen. After a few more weeks, she beat the virus. She has since taken the bench and is working in full swing. Judge Mercer expressed tremendous gratitude for Judge Forsberg’s willingness to brave the hospital so she could take her oath to serve on the District Court bench. “It was so incredibly kind of her and so brave,” said Judge Mercer. “She probably thought it was going to be OK until she arrived and saw the hospital staff suited up with full hazmat uniforms. It looks like they’re going to the moon. I think she was pretty terrified once she got there. This is a disease that is taking people’s lives. I was very grateful.”

Prior to this, the two women had known each other professionally and had worked as opposing counsel in the past.

Speaking of her time in the COVID ward Judge Mercer said, “I witnessed every level of human emotion going to the hospital on New Year’s Eve. It felt like a MASH unit in the emergency room with the staff working their tails off and patients screaming and complaining and yelling.” On multiple occasions she spoke of the hospital staff and said, “The hospital and staff were amazing! They had amazing positive attitudes, they were so inspirational; and seeing what Rhonda did for me was so inspiring.”

Judge Forsberg was matter of fact about braving the hospital to swear in a COVID positive colleague.  “I was nervous and thinking, let’s get this done,” said Judge Forsberg. “I told her we would forever have a bond.”

Judge Mercer will take her ceremonial oath of office at an investiture on Friday, February 5 at 3 p.m. in front of a handful of family and friends. It will be live-streamed at https://www.facebook.com/clarkcountycourts.

“I know I’m meant for this job. I know this is what I am supposed to be doing,” said Judge Mercer. “I got into this because I want to make a positive difference.”

To view of video of Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada Family Division department Z Judge Michele Mercer Judge swearing her oath in the hospital before Judge Rhonda Forsberg visit https://youtu.be/6cS-w1qXsY8

“}