Sunday, December 30, 2012

The 2013 Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke Symposium

NY COURT OF APPEALS
THE UNTOLD SECRETS OF EAGLE STREET
Thursday, March 21, 2013, 5-7pm
Albany Law School


Media Release
Court of Appeals Judges to Convene at Albany Law
Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke State Constitutional Commentary Symposium to Provide Insight into NY Court of Appeals

The Judges of the New York State Court of Appeals will convene to discuss the court's procedure and inner workings for the Albany Law Review's Seventh Annual Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke State Constitutional Commentary Symposium on March 21, 2013.

Participating Judges for the event, titled "The New York Court of Appeals: The Untold Secrets of Eagle Street," will include:

  • Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman
  • Judge Victoria Graffeo '77
  • Judge Susan Read
  • Judge Robert Smith
  • Judge Eugene Pigott, Jr.
  • Judge Jenny Rivera

"The New York Court of Appeals: The Untold Secrets of Eagle Street," free and open to the public, will be held in Albany Law School's Dean Alexander Moot Courtroom on Thursday, March 21, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. For more information, contact Michelle Mallette, Albany Law Review editor for state constitutional commentary, at mmallette@albanylaw.edu or Professor Vincent Bonventre at vbonv@albanylaw.edu or 518-472-5856.

The Albany Law Review started its annual tradition of honoring former New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke '38 in 2007 by holding the first State Constitutional Commentary Symposium in his name. The symposium provides a forum to explore issues and developments in state courts, state public law and state-federal relations.

Complete transcript available HERE.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

(Part 5--Retirees, past & possible) Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices

In this series, we've been looking at the septuagenarian Justices, the younger ones, and the recent retirees. With regard to the retirees--the 10 over the last 25 years--we've focused on their time on the Court and their age when they departed. [See [See Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices (Part 1), Nov. 21, 2012; (Part 2), Nov. 24, 2012; (Part 3--the "Yoots"), Dec. 4, 2012; (Part 4--the Retirees), Dec. 6, 2012.]

Now, let's single out the "extreme" retirees--i.e., those were on the Court the longest and the shortest, and those who were the oldest and the youngest at retirement  Then the "average" retirees--i.e., those who represent the average (or the median) time Justices remain on the Court, and who represent the average (or the median) age when they leave.

Here are the extremes:
(click to enlarge)
That's Justice John Paul Stevens, appointed by President Ford and the Court's last retiree, at one end of the range with the longest tenure among the recent retirees. His 34 1/2 years is one of the longest in Court history. (William O. Douglas, an FDR appointee, holds the record at 36 1/2 years.)

Justice Lewis Powell, the 3rd of President Nixon's 4 appointees, is at the other end with his 15 1/2 years being the briefest tenure among the last 10 retirees. (James F. Byrnes, the last of FDR's 9 appointees, holds the record with a mere 15 months.)

As for age at retirement, that's Stevens again at one end as the oldest--and, at 90, one of the oldest retirees in Court history. (Oliver Wendell Holmes, a TR appointee, was several months older--just a few weeks short of his 91st birthday.)

At the other end is President Bush 41's appointee, Justice David Souter, whose retirement at (nearly) 69 years of age makes him the youngest to retire among recent Justices. (Justice Benjamin Curtis, appointed by President Fillmore, was apparently the youngest to leave the Court. He resigned at the age of 47, appalled by the Court's decision in the Dred Scott decision, against which he authored a dissenting opinion.)
[I've summarized the time-on-the-Court and retirement age data for the last 10 retirees in a Table that's accessible HERE.]

(Part 5a--the Table) Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices


Table: The Last 10 Retirees
Warren E. Burger
On the Court
17 yrs
Retired 1986
at 79
Died at 87
Lewis F. Powell
15 ½ yrs
Retired 1987
at 79
Died at 90
William J. Brennan, Jr.
33 ¾ yrs
Retired 1990
at 84
Died at 91
Thurgood Marshall
24 yrs
Retired 1991
at 83
Died at 84
Byron R. White
31 yrs
Retired 1993
at 75
Died at 84
Harry A. Blackmun
24 yrs
Retired 1994
at 85
Died at 90
William H. Rehnquist
33 ¾ yrs
Died in office 2005
at 80
Died at 80
Sandra Day O'Connor
24 yrs
Retired 2006
at 75
Currently 82
David H. Souter
18 ¾ yrs
Retired 2009
at 69
Currently 73
John Paul Stevens
34 ½ yrs
Retired 2010
at 90
Currently 92
[As noted in the main post, much of this data is derived from the works of  University Of Virginia Professor Emeritus Henry J. Abraham, including his JUSTICES AND PRESIDENTS (AND SENATORS in later editions).]
Return to the main post HERE.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

(Part 4--the Retirees) Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices

Thus far in this series, we've taken a look at the 4 septuagenarians on the Court and at the 5 younger Justices. We noted the marked contrast in their respective ages and lengths of service on the Court.
[See Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices (Part 1), Nov. 21, 2012; (Part 2), Nov. 24, 2012; (Part 3--the "Yoots"), Dec. 4, 2012.]

We've been doing that primarily to assess the likelihood of vacancies arising in President Obama's 2nd term. With that in mind, let's now review some recent retirements from the Court.

Let's look at the last 10. That would be a quarter century worth of Justices leaving the Court and creating vacancies.

Let's focus specifically on the retirees' ages and how long they'd been on the Court when they departed. Here they are in chronological order:

Warren E. Burger

  • Lived 1907-1995, died age 87
  • On Court 1969-1986 (Nixon)
  • Retired after 17 yrs
  • Retired age 79


Lewis F. Powell

  • Lived 1907-1998, died age 90
  • On Court 1972-1987 (Nixon)
  • Retired after 15 1/2 yrs
  • Retired age 79

William J. Brennan

  • Lived 1906-1997, died age 91
  • On Court 1956-1990 (Eisenhower)
  • Retired after 33 3/4 yrs
  • Retired age 84

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

(Part 3--the "Yoots") Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices

In parts 1 and 2 of this series, we took a quick look at the 4 septuagenarians currently on the Court--Justices Ginsburg, Scalia, Kennedy, and Breyer. Specifically, we pointed to their ages-- now and when President Obama's 2nd term ends--their ideological leanings, and the likelihood of their retiring in the next 4 years.
[See Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices (Part 1), Nov. 21, 2012; (Part 2), Nov. 24, 2012.]

Here's a recap:
(click to enlarge)
In short, their ages range from the oldest, 79 ( Ginsburg), to the youngest, 74 (Breyer); and by the end of Obama's term, 83 to 78. Their years on the Court, by that time, will range from 30 (Scalia) to 22 (Breyer).

As for the remaining 5 Justices, they are all at least 10 years younger than the youngest septuagenarian. Just how young are these relative young-ens (or "yoots," per Joe Pesci's Vinny Gambini in My Cousin Vinny)?