State Constitutional Law and the state high courts in the 21st century: February 16, 2007.

• Author: Kaye, Judith S.
• Position: Symposium: Chief Justices Discuss State Courts and State Constitutional Law in the 21st Century

Thank you so much, Judge Rosenblatt and Professor Siegel--both treasured colleagues and friends--for those extraordinary tributes. Thank you so much, Paul Trumble and Jerald Sharum, the Albany Law Review, and the Albany Law School for this extraordinary honor. The other day, the Albany Times Union billed this as a "supreme event" (l)--and surely it is. The word "extraordinary" also immediately brings to mind my Court of Appeals colleagues, and I want especially to acknowledge those here today--Judges Ciparick, Graffeo, Read, Smith, Jones, and, of course, Judge Rosenblatt--as well as our phenomenal Presiding Justice Cardona and Appellate Division Justices Carpinello and Malone. It is an unimaginable joy to labor, and to live, alongside them.

As you know, today marks the close of the Court of Appeals' two-week session when we gather in Albany to hear oral arguments in new cases, to hand down decisions in previously argued cases, and to conduct other business of the Court. Now we return to home chambers--which for the seven of us are scattered throughout the state--generally for a three-week period to prepare writings, to study briefs for the March session, and to consider the thousands of requests for permission to appeal to our Court. It's an amazingly full and wonderful life. Coming to this moment--the very end of a two-week Albany session--I compare to crossing the finish line at a marathon: utter exhaustion from two weeks of long, long days of morning conference, afternoon argument, and evening preparation for the next day, combined with utter exhilaration for physically having survived it and for the intellectual stimulation of colleagues, counsel, and cases.

This two-week session in particular has been a forever memorable one for me, punctuated (with an exclamation point!) by this Symposium. Within these past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of being renominated as Chief Judge by Governor Eliot Spitzer, (2) the pleasure of investiture of our newest colleague, Theodore T. Jones, Jr., and the pleasure of travel to New Orleans the weekend before last for a meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices, including, most especially, our three illustrious panelists--my dear friends, Wisconsin Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, Utah Chief Justice Christine Durham, and Arkansas Chief Justice James Hannah. And I pause here to express my profound gratitude to Chief Justices Abrahamson, Hannah, and Durham for being here today. I happen to know...