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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Courts - "NY Chief Judge Is Retiring, Leaving Trail of Successes for Women on the Bench"

John Eligon of the NY Times has this report on the retirement of NY State's Chief Judge, Judith S. Kaye. A quote from the lengthy story:

Now, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70, Judge Kaye will retire on Wednesday, ending a quarter-century on the bench having vaulted women to new heights in the judiciary.

Besides knocking down the last major hurdles for women in the judiciary, Judge Kaye, court observers agree, left a record of successes in her stewardship of the Court of Appeals and in her role as chief executive of one of the largest state court systems in the nation.

She has served longer than any other chief judge in New York history, becoming one of the country’s most highly regarded judges. She was considered by President Bill Clinton for the position of United States attorney general, and at other times for the United States Supreme Court — positions she shunned to remain on New York’s high court.

“She leaves a legacy for advancing the court system into places and dimensions where it had never been,” said Albert M. Rosenblatt, one of Judge Kaye’s former colleagues on the court and the author of a book on the history of judges in the Court of Appeals.

As an administrator, Judge Kaye pushed the court system to address societal problems by creating courts or assigning judges for specific issues like drug abuse, mental health and domestic violence — initiatives that other states followed.

Judge Kaye, appointed by a liberal governor, led the charge to broaden the powers of the State Constitution, supported gay rights and voted against the death penalty.

One of her most noted opinions came on the losing side, in the court’s 2006 decision against gay marriage. Her dissent was cited by the high courts in California and Connecticut when they endorsed gay marriage this year. (Voters in California banned gay marriage by amending the State Constitution last month.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 30, 2008 04:01 PM
Posted to Courts in general