| "Kaye —
Dual Constitutionalism in Practice" |
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The forty-first Benjamin N. Cardozo Lecture was delivered at the House of the Association on February 26, 1987. The honorable Judith S. Kaye is an Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York. Welcome to the 41st Annual Cardozo Lecture. I am grateful to the President, Bob Kaufman, for giving me the opportunity to speak to you briefly before turning over the evening to our speaker, Judge Judith Kaye, for what I know will be a wonderful talk. I want to also especially welcome and thank Chief Judge Sol Wachder, who arranged for the exciting historical exhibit that is now on display in the Reception Room, only for this evening. It is hard to believe that Judith was appointed to the New York State Court of Appeals more than three years ago. Even more surprising to some of you may be the fact that she has already become the second most senior associate judge on that court. When appointed, she had previously served on the Executive Committee of this Association, and had just been appointed chair of the Committee on Lectures and Continuing Education. As you know, she was a partner at Olwine Connelly after having earlier in her career been associated with Sullivan and Cromwell. Her breadth and scope of legal, community and research activities has been remarkable. I was particularly interested in the depth of her commitment to organizations which fight for improved selection of judges. What a wonderful series of events and decisions brought Judith to commit years of her public service time, to, among others, this Association, the American Bar Association and the American Judicature Society-three organizations that have for so many years been in the forefront of those that have advocated merit selection of judges; and then to be the fifth judge chosen by that very process to New York's highest court. As some of you may know, at the first organization meeting in 1870 of what became The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Samuel Tilden's major speech railed against the incompetence and venality of some members of the judiciary. He also decried the excesses of Tammany Hall; with its control over the judiciary and the subsequent entanglement of politics, patronage and the legal system. Mr. Tilden concluded his speech by pointing out the importance of honest judges and an uncompromised administration of justice to each New York citizen as well as to the financial and commercial growth of the City. The recent scandals in county political leadership and inevitably, in the politics and patronage involved in the election of judges nominated by such county leaders, have once again made clear that our commitment must be to merit selection of all of the judges of New York. In 1976, the efforts of Chief Judge Charles Brietel, and the commitment of Governor Hugh Carey to "take the clubhouse out of the courthouse" led to the first passage of the constitutional amendment that provided a merit selection process only for the State's highest court. Some opponents of that reform pointed out that Judge Cardozo himself was elected to the Court of Appeals. I can think of no better authority to cite on that issue (or almost any matter affecting our profession) than Whitney North Seymour. When Whitney gave the 25th Cardozo Lecture in 1968, he made the following observations: after almost half a century in the courts, I am satisfied that a main present obligation of the bar to the public and to the profession is to try to eliminate political considerations from their continued excessive role in the choice of our judges... After mentioning the fine judges who had been elected, including Judge Cardozo, he stated: The elective system is by no means entitled to credit for all, or even most of our outstanding judges; all that can be said is that some outstanding judges slip through the present far too political system. He concluded his appeal for the bar's support of improved selection of judges this way: This matter is one of the most pressing concerns of the bar of our country. If, as no doubt will happen, our urban problems multiply and our institutions are increasingly challenged and questioned, it is our particular duty to see that the administration of justice is not open to attack. Routine, inconsiderate treatment of those brought into court breeds disrespect for law and our institutions which can spread like an infection...The best administration of justice is provided by the best judges... Judge Kaye could not be a better example of that standard. Her credentials in the law and the community were certainly impressive; but more than that is the kind of person she is. When this Cardozo lecture series was established in 1940, the Association dedicated it with a resolution which described Judge Cardozo as: "A rare character that radiated goodness; that was inspired by a love for the law, a passion for justice and sympathy for humanity." I am pleased to introduce to you another such "rare character" Judge Judith Kaye. |
 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York |
