Thursday, April 12, 2007
Step out and into adventure – visit a courthouse
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
It is not too often that this family visits a courthouse, but this was the day when a member of the family was to be sworn in as a member of the bar. The courthouse involved was the 2nd Judicial Department of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, on Monroe Place, near Pierrepont, in Brooklyn Heights, minutes away on the 4/5 line, but we felt festive. The cab driver asked for directions (that happens about half the time), and we guided him across Brooklyn Bridge and through Cadman Plaza (beware, the Lower Manhattan route is particularly torturtous, what with construction and traffic diversions to confuse any terrorists.)
We were early, and after a thorough search the court officers let us sit in the copious waiting area, decorated with 50 huge photographs of the justices, taken over 110 years. The earliest, 1896, had five dignified bearded white men; the count grew, one by one, to 14 in 1980, with one black face (there may have been earlier). In 1984 one woman appeared among the now 15 justices, with two black faces among them, and in 2001 there were 20 judges, including seven white women, one black woman, and two black men. That’s a remarkable progress, nearly proportionate to the national demographics, and the 2nd Department represents nearly one-half of NYS population, in 10 counties, from Brooklyn and Queens east through Long Island, and north from Westchester through Putnam, and the west side of Hudson. The Supreme Court is New York State's principal trial court, with a branch in each of the State's 62 counties, and Appellate Division is the middle level, with four such Appellate Divisions; the top level is the Court of Appeals. The Justices of the Supreme Court are elected to 14-year terms by the voters of their respective judicial districts; there are 12 such districts in New York State. All Supreme Court Justices have a mandatory retirement age of 70.
The room filled up, while I was studying the pictures. Young men and women were arriving, the latter mostly dressed in power suits, largely in somber black, not exactly celebratory but all exuding supreme confidence, with only one colorful dress, one bright shirt and one big combed out Afro hairdo present to celebrate the event. Not a shy face was noted in the crowd, all practicing attorneys with a year or more under the belt, representing all ethnicities. There were a number of Asian, African-American and Hispanic faces, one or two yarmulkes, but no facial coverings, and some Russian was heard among the family members.
The presiding justice Robert W. Schmidt from Nassau was cheerful, welcoming the kids to the ancient and honorable profession of law, indicating that they will be privileged and challenged to address many current issues, from immigration to rights of terrorists, and to treat these challenges as opportunities not to be missed and responsibilities not to be evaded. He would break the solemnity of the occasion by promising to be brief, quoting Henry VIII to his wives (“I won’t be keeping you any longer”) and describing how the profession has progressed from what Dickens saw as the lawyers’ quest of “picking up bits and pieces” to the present day overflow of information. Getting justice done fairly, with kindness and within the law, were some of the criteria offered for lawyerly conduct.
Today, when many people with extensive experience in governmental systems, gained through intensive TV watching, question the validity of institutions, it becomes important to review the historic background within which the courts developed. The Supreme Court of Judicature was created in 1691, with justices traveling on circuit courts, and several times a year sitting together to make rulings on points of law encountered, and to review and correct errors made by judges in inferior courts (we still have them, in rural communities). The appeals went to the Royal Governor and his council, until New York’s first Constitution (1777), when a new tribunal, the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, took over.
In 1846 the system was reorganized, and a Supreme Court became the highest court of original , unlimited jurisdiction, while the appeals went to a new Court of Appeals structure, which kept changing at several state Constitutional Conventions, until in 1884 the present Appellate Division was created, to replace the prior intermediate structure called General Term, with the Governor choosing from among the elected Supreme Court Justices, to designate justices of the Appellate Division for five year terms. The objective was to promote better substantive justice.
But the population grew, particularly in the Second District, to the point that the Governor in 1989 appointed a commission to study caseloads, resulting in a report titled justice delayed, and the designation of five additional justices to the disproportionately expanded Second District, with more added later. Thus the system, although slow, manages to adjust and cope. That's democracy.
It is not too often that this family visits a courthouse, but this was the day when a member of the family was to be sworn in as a member of the bar. The courthouse involved was the 2nd Judicial Department of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, on Monroe Place, near Pierrepont, in Brooklyn Heights, minutes away on the 4/5 line, but we felt festive. The cab driver asked for directions (that happens about half the time), and we guided him across Brooklyn Bridge and through Cadman Plaza (beware, the Lower Manhattan route is particularly torturtous, what with construction and traffic diversions to confuse any terrorists.)
We were early, and after a thorough search the court officers let us sit in the copious waiting area, decorated with 50 huge photographs of the justices, taken over 110 years. The earliest, 1896, had five dignified bearded white men; the count grew, one by one, to 14 in 1980, with one black face (there may have been earlier). In 1984 one woman appeared among the now 15 justices, with two black faces among them, and in 2001 there were 20 judges, including seven white women, one black woman, and two black men. That’s a remarkable progress, nearly proportionate to the national demographics, and the 2nd Department represents nearly one-half of NYS population, in 10 counties, from Brooklyn and Queens east through Long Island, and north from Westchester through Putnam, and the west side of Hudson. The Supreme Court is New York State's principal trial court, with a branch in each of the State's 62 counties, and Appellate Division is the middle level, with four such Appellate Divisions; the top level is the Court of Appeals. The Justices of the Supreme Court are elected to 14-year terms by the voters of their respective judicial districts; there are 12 such districts in New York State. All Supreme Court Justices have a mandatory retirement age of 70.
The room filled up, while I was studying the pictures. Young men and women were arriving, the latter mostly dressed in power suits, largely in somber black, not exactly celebratory but all exuding supreme confidence, with only one colorful dress, one bright shirt and one big combed out Afro hairdo present to celebrate the event. Not a shy face was noted in the crowd, all practicing attorneys with a year or more under the belt, representing all ethnicities. There were a number of Asian, African-American and Hispanic faces, one or two yarmulkes, but no facial coverings, and some Russian was heard among the family members.
The presiding justice Robert W. Schmidt from Nassau was cheerful, welcoming the kids to the ancient and honorable profession of law, indicating that they will be privileged and challenged to address many current issues, from immigration to rights of terrorists, and to treat these challenges as opportunities not to be missed and responsibilities not to be evaded. He would break the solemnity of the occasion by promising to be brief, quoting Henry VIII to his wives (“I won’t be keeping you any longer”) and describing how the profession has progressed from what Dickens saw as the lawyers’ quest of “picking up bits and pieces” to the present day overflow of information. Getting justice done fairly, with kindness and within the law, were some of the criteria offered for lawyerly conduct.
Today, when many people with extensive experience in governmental systems, gained through intensive TV watching, question the validity of institutions, it becomes important to review the historic background within which the courts developed. The Supreme Court of Judicature was created in 1691, with justices traveling on circuit courts, and several times a year sitting together to make rulings on points of law encountered, and to review and correct errors made by judges in inferior courts (we still have them, in rural communities). The appeals went to the Royal Governor and his council, until New York’s first Constitution (1777), when a new tribunal, the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, took over.
In 1846 the system was reorganized, and a Supreme Court became the highest court of original , unlimited jurisdiction, while the appeals went to a new Court of Appeals structure, which kept changing at several state Constitutional Conventions, until in 1884 the present Appellate Division was created, to replace the prior intermediate structure called General Term, with the Governor choosing from among the elected Supreme Court Justices, to designate justices of the Appellate Division for five year terms. The objective was to promote better substantive justice.
But the population grew, particularly in the Second District, to the point that the Governor in 1989 appointed a commission to study caseloads, resulting in a report titled justice delayed, and the designation of five additional justices to the disproportionately expanded Second District, with more added later. Thus the system, although slow, manages to adjust and cope. That's democracy.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 7:46 PM 
