Courtrooms of the Thurgood Marshall u. S. Courthouse to celebrate an american hero. Thurgood marshall to whose memory this magnificent courthouse is dedicated to this courthouse where he served on the Second Circuit. We welcome our cspan audience to our proceedings, as well. Our gathering is at the intersection of two initiatives which engaged in the courts of the Second Circuit, and initiatives which i had the privilege of proposing which have taken life because of the creative and dedicated work of remarkable colleagues of the bench, bar and our court staff. The first, the 125th Anniversary Commemoration of the Second Circuit court of appeals wonderfully chaired by richard c. Wesley has several components including scholarly volumes and Public Events as we take stock of our past to better understand how our work has evolved so as to better meet the challenges of the present and the future. The second initiative, justice for all, courts and the community is a project of all of the courts of the Second Circuit, a project which through a wide range of Civic Education activities seeks to bring courts and communities closer together to promote public understanding of the courts and to help courts better understand the communities we serve. Early in the new year well be going live with our Civic Education website which can be found on the court which youll be able to find on the court of appeals website and we invite you to explore. Thurgood marshalls life is very much a part of these initiatives. As to the courts history in 1961, president john f. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall on the circuit judge on this court where he sat in this very courtroom until 1965 when president lyndon b. Johnson appointed him first as solicitor general of the United States and then as an associate justice of the United StatesSupreme Court. The first africanamerican appointed to that highest court in our land in a career on the court that spanned 32 years. In this building, Thurgood Marshall occupied chambers on the 20th floor. His successor in that case, our beloved feinberg also occupied that space succeeding Justice Marshall, and over the years judge feinberg had the opportunity to move to bigger quarters as he gained seniority and he never left the justices chambers. He said if it was good enough for Thurgood Marshall, its good enough for me. Second circuit judge marshall wrote 98 majority opinions, eight concurrences and 12 dissents as david biowitz noted in his article for the 12th 5 anniversary collection of biographies published by the cornell laureate. In the last few years we have taken steps to ensure that Thurgood Marshalls legacy is appropriately honored here in this courthouse. Two years ago gilbert king, pulitzer prizewinning author and the dawn of a new age in america delivered the hands lecture of the court about marshalls courageous defense in 1949 of the four young black men in lake county florida accused of raping a white woman. In our lobby, size you no doubt observed, everyone who enters this building will see the photographs of various aspects of Justice Marshalls incredible career in development with deep appreciation to circuit judge ralph winter and Southern District judge paul engmeyer, both marshall clerks and the Terrific Team headed by luis lopez is an exhibit about the extraordinary life and times of Thurgood Marshall as a courageous civil rights leader who worked tirelessly to aid this to rid this country of the scourge of segregation and racism. As the executive director of the naacp legal and education defense fund, as the plaintiffs attorney in brown versus board of education and as the solicitor general, as a juryist in the Second Circuit and the Supreme Court. You will be able to see the videos and hear Thurgood Marshalls voice arguing in the Supreme Court. Youll have a sense of the impact on the worlds with which he interacted. Moreover, students of all aejge will be able to explore further the legacy of Thurgood Marshall when this spring we inaugurate on the floor of this courthouse, a state of the art learning center, a Civic Education initiative and youll be able to see in permanent ways, the life of Thurgood Marshall and thats a project which i cochair with judge marrero of the Southern District of new york. Today we are graced by representatives of the marshall family. His son thurgood junior. Thurgood juniors wife, teddy and Justice Marshalls grandson patrick and with great thanks to ira feinberg we have here with us, as well, an Outstanding Group of the marshall judicial family, Thurgood Marshalls former clerks. The programs we are about to witness consist of a stellar assembly, many of whom are friends of mine who are longstanding who took time from their busy schedules to participate and who i thank most warmly. Elena kagan, a supremely talented and brilliant Supreme Court justice like her former boss, also a former solicitor general and of course, before that the dean of the Harvard Law School. Martha minnow, the Current Harvard Law School dean herself, a renowned scholar of social policy. Ricky ravez, the executive director of the American Law Institute and former dean of the nyu school of law and leading expert on environmental law. Gregory discount, a highly regarded litigator, cheryl cashen of Georgetown University law center and a distinguished scholar of social policy and judge paul englemeyer, a superb judicial colleague of the Southern District of new york. Without further delay, i turn the proceedings over to judge wesley who has so magnificently overseen this 125th anniversary celebration. Judge wesley . [ applause ] three seats left. I have to say im a little nervous standing in the well with such a distinguished panel. Im glad i havent been a lawyer for 30 years arguing appeals. I dont know how id fare with that group im facing up there. A bit of administrative stuff, please turn off your cell phones. Please turn off your cell phones. If they ring, i will be very unhappy. Thank you, chief, for your kind introduction. In 2013, the Second Circuit resolved to press not a series of programs during the 20162017 term to commemorate the 125th anniversary of this great court. To that end, the committee of judges, core personnel and lawyers was appointed to plan a number of events in publications that would tell the story of the Second Circuit as reflected in its jurisprudence, its impact on the cultural and economic climate of our nation and the lives of the judges who have labored here. The names of those folks who have served on the committee on the back of the program. Todays Panel Discussion is the fifth in a series of programs planned by committee and executed by the hard work of the core family and its friends. In the next few months core personnel will reenact several famous appeals heard at the court, a distinguished scholar will deliver a lecture on the memorable First Amendment case and a panel of lawyers and judges will explore the circuits relationship with the state high Court Cousins with regard to certified question procedures and much, much more. A copy of the calendar of events was given to you and are available to you at the Registration Desk and also is available to you on our website. Todays program focuses on a man who during his time before he came to the bench played an active and vital role for africanamericans during the 20th century. I suspect Many Americans could tell you that Thurgood Marshall was the attorney who successfully argued brown versus board of education, but i fear that few have a sense of marshall as a historic figure, and i confess that i was among them and until a read richard klugers magnificent book simple justice and recently gilbert king mentioned in his book devil in the grove has pulled back the past to give us a look at how marshall lived in fighting racial prejudice and injustice. Marshall, as the chief said, has a connection to this court. He served here for four years before being appointed solicitor general by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 and later the Supreme Court in 1967. 1967, a great year for me and that was the year i graduated from high school. It makes me feel old now, to be honest with you. Following the Supreme Court appointment, he became the circuit justice for the Second Circuit and now the circuit justice for those of you not lawyers or judges is a sort of a judicial god parent for the circuit in d. C. Looking at us from the Second Circuit. It had been our intention to begin with the presentation by marshalls first clerk at the Second Circuit. Our very own judge, ralph winter. Judge winter is recovering well from a recent medical procedure, but regrettably is unable to be with us today. I speak, i know that i speak for all of my colleagues when i say we look forward to having judge winter back with us again soon in good health. Many of us have heard his delightful stories about his time with marshall. It is clear that ralph treasured the experience. Judge winter delivered a eulogy at marshalls funeral at the National Cathedral in washington in 1993 and a copy of the eulogy has been provided in the program and with your indulgence, let me read to you from several small portion of judge winters memorable address. Marshall was arpgs pointed on the Second Circuit on an interim basis and an interim appointment and it was made while congress was not in session. Instead of life tenure, the judge served on an ints rim basis until confirmed or not confirmed. For marshall, the interim was long. His nomination languished in the Senate Judiciary committee. During that time he was treated as a visiting judge and had no permanent chambers in this building. Every two weeks or so, he would pack up his files and move them to a vacationing judges office. Can you imagine that . Having to pick up your files and moving out. I think of my colleagues in accomplishing that. Back to winter. In spite of the strain of serving as a judge without being confirmed, marshall carried out responsibilities with the characteristic, goodhumored perspective on life. The most famous men or women rarely cli rarely live up to their press clippings as a person. Thurgood marshall lived up to and even outdid his press clippings and he was a warm, friendly, incredibly witty man, a totally lovable human being. I was his clerk in his first year as a judge on the court on which i now sit. Every morning he presided over cop coffee hour attended by clerks from other chambers. The atmosphere was one of earthy stories, salty language and booming laughter. He was universally kind to and loved by his clerks and the imprint of his personality is indelibly stamped on them. Thurgood marshall was the Irresistible Force for justice, the immovable object against injustice and a warm and kind human being. Alas, he was mortal although that, believe it or not, came as a surprise, but his legacy to the nation was indestructible as are the Cherished Memories we have of him. Today, we will hear from people who worked at the Supreme Court with Justice Marshall. Marshall had a tremendous influence on the jurisprudence on the country as a lawyer and as a judge on the high court. Through todays discussion we will learn how marshalls influence on the national jurisprudence continues today through the law clerks he trained. I am absolutely certain that this will prove to be a memorable afternoon and early evening. Our panelists knew one of the great figures of the American Experience in the 20th century. Leading the discussion today is the honorable pa paul englemeye. He worked as a reporter for the wall street journal between college and law school and decided to get a real job, i guess. He clerked for judge Patricia Wald at the d. C. Circuit and he clerked for Justice Marshall from 1988 until 1989. Following a distinguished career at the United StatesAttorneys Office and a stint at the solicitor generals office, judge englemeyer joined pickering, hail and dure. I just loved that firm name. Wilmer, cutler, pickering, and hail and dure. It just sounds like a law firm you want to spend 700 on. And thats for the associate. You can tell ive been on the bench for 30 years. In 2011, it was created to receive jerry lynch as our colleague on the Second Circuit. Senator grassley gave the judge a hard time for a few week, but ultimately thought the better on his hold on the judges nomination and for good reason. Judge englemeyer on july 26, 2011 was confirmed by a vote of 980. Now ive gone back and looked at the vote on june 12th of 2003 and my vote was 970. Judge englemeyer, i dont know how you got that extra vote. I dont know. Congratulations. Judge englemeyer, on behalf of the court i want to thank you for helping us plan this event and for your assistance on conquering the endless set of challenges that we faced in making today a reality. Ladies and gentlemen, i give you the honorable paula. Englemeyer who will introduce our distinguished panel and serve as moderator of todays discussion. Judge englemeyer. [ applause ] thank you, judge wesley and thank you, chief judge. I want to welcome everyone who is here both in courtroom 1703 any watching remotely. Tonight there are 650 people is a record for this 80yearold courthouse. The part of that, no doubt is because we have an absolutely worldclass panel and it also speaks, i think, to the giant to whom were paying tribute tonight. Its been 25 years since he retired and nearly 24 years since he died. But Thurgood Marshall the lawyer and thurgood mabl the justirsha justice inspires us. Thanks to his brilliance, courage and vision and so many areas, civil rights and civil liberties, criminal law and procedure [ indiscernible ] our panelists tonight have one thing in common. Each of us have been clerking for Justice Marshall who by the time we got to know him was already very much a Living Legend. Including ralph winter who, unfortunately, was unable to attend tonight due to illness. We stand and look at Justice Marshalls entire career untilled end. Ralph was his first clerk on the 2 rnd circuit and cheryl clerked for him in his final term in 1990. In between, greg clerked in 1975 to 197637 martha minnow clerked in 19801981. Ricky ravez clerked from 1981 to 1985 and elena kagan clerked. E len a in fact, along with her coclerks trained me and my coclerks, and so i can say that i had the rare privilege, although i cant say i had the presence to appreciate it at the time, of being tutored at once by two Supreme Court justices, one past and one present and the one future. Each of the clerkship years have a different texture and character. Each was shaped by the times, by the courts changing composition and very much by the years docket. Certain aspects were perennials and thats what we court clerks called him at his request. He didnt want to be called justice or mr. Justice, and he wanted to be called at the most, formal judge. He in turn, called us knuckleheads an affectionate term and other names well get to tonight and one that a clerkship meant was lots and lots of time with him. Every day after an oral argument we would spend an hour or so from his clerkses in the private Conference Room near his cherished bust of frederick douglas. My year, the court heard argument in 170 cases which was fairly typical for his tenure and so there were lots of those hours. He would discuss the cases that had just been argued and hed make notes in his binder with his trademark blue pencil until he arrived at a decision as to how to vote. To be present as he talked through cases with landmark cases or soon to be forgotten cases was a thrill. It was literally being a witness to history and then would come what the four of us called story time, and t. M. Would unspool the stories of his life, his roots in baltimore, his early career as a criminal defense att