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Common Threads of Justice: Get to Know Hon. Peter Tom

May 8, 2020May 8, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsBlog, Common Threads of Justice

This week, we are continuing our month-long celebration of Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month with our 2017 film Get to Know: Hon. Peter Tom. At the time of this interview, Justice Tom served as the Acting Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department.

The now-retired Justice Tom speaks of his upbringing in Hong Kong, and how his early years in the United States brought him to an interest in the law. He traces his judicial career from Housing Court Judge to Appellate Division Justice. He also discusses the importance of boxing in his life. The film comes full circle in Justice Tom’s reflections on the American dream.

We appreciate Justice Tom’s sharing his story with us.

Common Threads of Justice: Get to Know Hon. Randall T. Eng

May 1, 2020May 1, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsBlog, Common Threads of Justice

May signals another month-long celebration for Common Threads of Justice: Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month!

We are kicking off this new celebration with Get to Know Hon. Randall T. Eng, the first Asian-American jurist to serve as Presiding Justice in New York State and our Trustee. This interview chronicles Justice Eng’s early years to his interest in the law to his judicial career. He also reflects on discrimination and stereotypes he has faced as a Chinese-American. The interview was recorded in March 2017. At that time, Judge Eng was then Presiding Justice at the Appellate Division Second Department and the interview took place in his chambers.

Law Day 2020: Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy

May 1, 2020May 1, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsBlog, Garfinkel Essay Scholarship

The theme for Law Day this year is Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy: The 19th Amendment at 100. It celebrates the centennial of the constitutional amendment that guaranteed women’s right to vote, and recognizes the challenges to voting rights that are still present today.

The Historical Society of the New York Courts developed a similar topic for its David A. Garfinkel Essay Scholarship, with Bronx Community College students writing about You, the Voter: How Far Have We Come? Is the Journey Over? In 2020, Harold Rosario won first prize with his essay, which examines how women and African Americans earned their right to vote, and is published below.

The Path to Equality: Women and African Americans Winning the Right to Vote

by Harold Rosario

Prof. Alana Barran, Mentoring Professor

From the time of America’s inception, the right to vote was one that was given only to a privileged few landowners. Many different groups of people have been denied the right to vote throughout American history. Of these groups, women and African Americans had the longest, and maybe the most important, fight for the vote. These are groups that were essential in the establishment of the United States, from the time of colonization through the declaration of independence from Great Britain.

The first laws related to voting came during the colonial and revolutionary times when the right to vote was restricted to male property owners. In a time when African Americans were still slaves and they themselves were considered property, landowners were mostly rich white males. These laws also restricted women because at the time not only was it was rare for a woman to own property, they generally relied on their father or husband for financial support. The legal and practical restrictions on voting seemed to be specifically targeting these groups, as it would take many years and a hard fight for either group to finally win their right to vote.

Common Threads of Justice: Ladies of Legend

April 24, 2020May 1, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsBlog, Common Threads of Justice

We close Celebrate Diversity Month in Common Threads of Justice with our first partnership with the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society, the program Ladies of Legend: The First Generation of American Women Attorneys.

Though this program was held over a decade ago, it is still relevant today, as these pioneering women inspire new generations of lawyers with every passing year. The program highlights the careers of Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Hon. Judith S. Kaye, and many first generation women attorneys: Belva A. Lockwood, Lavinia Goodell, Catharine Waugh McCulloch, and others. Prof. Jill Norgren discusses the first generation’s practices, their political activities, and their early lives. We end this month-long celebration with these fascinating sketches of women to whom the nation’s practice of law owes so much.

It’s John Jay Week at the Society!

April 20, 2020April 20, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsBlog, Judicial Notice

This week is John Jay Week at the Historical Society of the New York Courts! We’re taking a deep dive into the first Chief Justice of New York and the United States to highlight an amazing podcast with Hon. Mark C. Dillon and Paul D. Rheingold, moderated by Trustee and Judicial Notice style editor David L. Goodwin. It premieres this week!

Justice Dillon and Rheingold both wrote for our latest issue of Judicial Notice. While circumstances prevent us from sending our journal to our members, both authors wrote previews to their articles for our blog. Read before you listen to the podcast!

Common Threads of Justice: Asian Americans and the Law

April 17, 2020June 4, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsBlog, Common Threads of Justice

We return this Friday to showcase another common thread of justice and continue our celebrate diversity theme for April with Asian Americans and the law. We’re profiling the program Asian Americans & the Law: New York Pioneers in the Judiciary and Judicial Notice article Asian Americans and the Law, which originated from the program and was written by Hon. Denny Chin and Kathy Hirata Chin, who also worked to develop the program.

Asian Americans & the Law: New York Pioneers in the Judiciary featured three trailblazing judges, Hon. Dorothy Chin Brandt, Hon. Peter Tom, and Trustee Hon. Randall T. Eng. Each participant highlighted their early lives and the paths to the judiciary as well as discrimination faced by the Asian American community. A presentation preceded the panel and was recorded by written word in the Judicial Notice article. Judge Chin and Hirata Chin highlight exclusionary laws and other challenges faced by Asian Americans in the country, using four important cases to illustrate these issues.

U.S. Chief Justice John Jay: When All Judges Were Originalists

April 15, 2020April 21, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsBlog, Judicial Notice, Judicial Notice 15 Preview1 Comment

This blog article was written by Hon. Mark C. Dillon, and it’s a preview of his Judicial Notice Issue 15 article on John Jay. Mark C. Dillon is an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department of the New York Supreme Court, an Adjunct Professor of New York Practice at Fordham University School of Law, and an author of the McKinney’s CPLR Practice Commentaries. He has authored By The Light of My Burning Effigies: Chief Justice John Jay in the Struggle of a New Nation, a book that is being published in 2020 by SUNY Press.

Judicial Notice Issue 15 is on the way, but we ran into a slight delay and are unable to send the newest edition to your homes. Who are the four men profiled in this new issue? Find out each week as our authors preview their impressive articles.

There is a misperception that the 1804 case of Marbury v. Madison was the first decision of the U.S. Supreme Court of great constitutional importance. Instead, the first case of great constitutional magnitude was the 1793 case of Chisholm v. Georgia, the third case ever decided by the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Jay, of Westchester County, was at the center of the political and judicial maelstrom that surrounded Chisholm.

Chisholm arose from the failure of the framers of the 1789 constitution to clearly address the question of whether the sovereign states could be sued as defendants in the federal courts. There is evidence, including Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Paper #81, that the drafters of the constitution did not intend for the states to be subject to federal suits, which was among the assurances that the states relied upon in ratifying the constitution. The actual constitutional language that was ratified, however, said in Article III section 2 that the federal courts could hear suits “between a State and Citizens of another State.” Creditors who were owed money from the near-bankrupt states soon tested the constitutional language by bringing suits against them, and the Chisholm case was the first such action to reach the Supreme Court. Chisholm raised the question of whether the concept of constitutional “originalism,” at a time when all jurists were originalists, was to be guided by the intent of the drafters or, alternatively, by the plain language of the constitution itself. Usually, there is no difference between intent and plain language, but in the case of Chisholm, the difference was glaring.

Common Threads of Justice: Native Americans and the Law

April 10, 2020June 4, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsCommon Threads of Justice, Blog, Judicial Notice

Continuing the celebrate diversity theme for April, we’re turning to Native Americans and the New York law with Tribal Courts in New York: Case Study of the Oneida Indian Nation and Judicial Notice Issue 14. We received such positive responses to both the public program and the special issue of Judicial Notice, which featured a subject we hadn’t explored before: the role of justice in the relationships between Native Americans and New York State law.

Tribal Courts in New York was an eye-opening feature on Native American courts, through the lens of the Oneida Indian Nation. Oneida Indian Nation dancers also performed a traditional Haudenosaunee welcome dance to open the program. Issue 14 of Judicial Notice, spearheaded by Editor-in-Chief and Trustee Hon. Helen E. Freedman, highlights the history of between Native American peoples and New York’s legal system as well as current issues and collaborations. We treasure contributing to this important conversation.

John Jay: Practicing Trial Lawyer for Seven Years

April 8, 2020April 21, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsBlog, Judicial Notice, Judicial Notice 15 Preview

This blog article was written by Paul D. Rheingold, and it’s a preview of his Judicial Notice Issue 15 article on John Jay. Mr. Rheingold is Of Counsel to Rheingold, Giuffra, Ruffo and Plotkin, LLP, New York City, a firm he founded. His practice has been confined to representing plaintiffs in personal injury suits. He graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude in 1958. He is the author of Litigating Mass Tort Cases, a Thomson Reuters publication. He has long served on the Board of Overseers of the Institute for Civil Justice at the RAND Institute. With his wife Joyce, Mr. Rheingold wrote an article, “The Courthouses of Westchester County,” Quarterly of the Westchester County Society, Vol. 61, No. 4, p. 92 (1985).

Judicial Notice Issue 15 is on the way, but we ran into a slight delay and are unable to send the newest edition to your homes. Who are the four men profiled in this new issue? Find out each week as our authors preview their impressive articles.

I was delighted when the Historical Society of the New York Courts accepted my article on John Jay’s early career as a trial lawyer, but a bit saddened to learn that, due to unavoidable logistics, delivery of the magazine would be delayed. So I would like to tell you a little about what the article is about and what attracted me to the topic.

Given all his fame for his activities after the Revolutionary War, I found that little attention had been paid to Jay’s work as an everyday trial lawyer before the war. This was of special interest to me since my career has also been a trial lawyer. Given that experience, I also felt that I would be better able to understand his work.

Jay’s trial practice covers seven years, from 1767 to 1775. Before that he had five years of apprenticeship with a noted New York City lawyer. He was admitted to practice before all of His Majesty’s courts in New York in 1767—only one of two that year (it was a small bar). He was 23 years old. He commenced practice with the other young man who was admitted.

Common Threads of Justice: Celebrate Diversity Month

April 3, 2020June 4, 2020Historical Society of the New York CourtsCommon Threads of Justice, Blog

Celebrate Diversity Month — Honoring Judge Jane Bolin

April is Celebrate Diversity Month, and we plan to focus much of our outreach around this theme. Our lens will showcase diversity in the New York courts.

We’re kicking this month off with Hon. Jane Bolin and featuring a blog article written by Board member David L. Goodwin and the Young Lawyers Committee program Commemorating Hon. Jane Bolin. The program was spearheaded by David and produced in partnership with Yale Law School’s Yale Black Law Students Association and Yale Law Women. We thank Trustee Hon. Dianne T. Renwick for participating on that panel.

Judge Bolin was the first Black woman judge in the United States when New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia appointed her to the Domestic Relations Court in 1939. She was also the first Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, join the New York City Bar, and work in the Corporation Counsel office, among other firsts. She continued to serve the court admirably until her retirement 40 years later, and serves as an inspiration for many who followed in her footsteps. Learn more about Judge Bolin from the program and the blog!