Introduction to the Honorable Hugh R. Jones Memorial Lecture

Dean Alexander Moot Courtroom Albany Law School Tuesday, October 11, 2011 5:30 p.m. I'm delighted to be here once again at Albany Law School and to be a part of the Hugh R. Jones Memorial Lecture. Let me start by thanking the Fund for Modern Courts, and its Chair, Milton Williams, Jr., for continuing what has become a much anticipated lecture series for all of us in the legal community, the Judiciary and, most especially, the Court of Appeals. We so appreciate the scholarly attention that you and Albany Law School devote each year to the work and history of our Court. What a privilege it is for me to introduce former Chief Judge Sol Wachtler today--someone I have so greatly admired as far back as when I was a young court attorney and aspiring court manager working in the court system in the 1970s and 1980s. What a giant within the Judiciary, the legal profession, and the entire State-someone who had a meteoric rise to become the youngest judge ever to sit on the Court of Appeals. Sol Wachtler obtained his law degree from Washington and Lee University and, after military service during the Korean War, he made his way to Mineola, New York, where he opened a law office and got involved in local politics. In 1965, he was elected Supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead, and from the beginning he showed the kind of bold leadership and strong commitment to equal justice that was to characterize his entire career in public life, including building the first town sponsored low-income housing in the state. In 1968, he was elected to the Supreme Court, where he quickly earned a reputation as an outstanding trial judge. Having caught the eye of many statewide political figures, including Governor Nelson Rockefeller, he was encouraged to run for a seat on the Court of Appeals in 1972, when it was still an elected court. He was an underdog on the Republican and Liberal lines, but he ran a dynamic campaign and ended up being elected to the Court alongside two other new judges--Hugh R. Jones and Dominick Gabrielli. What an amazing infusion of talent for an already very strong Court boasting Chief Judge Stanley Fuld and future Chief Judge Charles Breitel. Sol Wachtler served on the Court of Appeals during a period of great change, when our laws and our courts were constantly challenged to keep pace with unprecedented technological and societal developments. He proved again and again that he had the intellect, scholarship, sound judgment, and collegial skills to resolve these difficult and novel cases in a wise and fair manner. His majority opinions--and there were nearly 400 of them--are distinctive for their strong logic, reasoning, direct, powerful writing style, and his commitment to centrism and common sense. And he had a flair for putting things into language that the public could easily understand--like his famous line, quoted by Tom Wolfe in the Bonfire of the Vanities and now part of the American lexicon, that a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich if that's what the prosecutor wanted. As a jurist, Sol Wachtler not only shaped the law of our state but influenced courts beyond our borders. In the pioneering so-called right to die cases the Court decided in 1981, Matter of Storar and Matter of Eichner, Judge Wachtler articulated the clear and convincing standard that was specifically endorsed by the United States Supreme Court. He also authored decisions involving First Amendment freedom of the press, particularly Chapadeau v. Utica Observer-Dispatch, that resonated nationally. And his opinion in People v. DeBour established the legal framework that has long governed whether and to what extent the police may intrude into the lives of private citizens. And, yet, Sol Wachtler's jurisprudential contributions tell only half the story. His contributions to the administration of justice in his capacity as the Chief Executive of the state court system are every bit as significant as his adjudicative achievements. …