Judicial Reports: LexPress: Kaye Reviewed

The New York Times runs a detailed retrospective on the career of retiring Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye.

In case you missed it over the weekend, The New York Times ran a detailed retrospective on the career of retiring Chief Judge Judith Kaye. 

the piece begins with recollections from former Gov. Mario Cuomo about his 1983 meeting with Kaye, who, ironically, was opposed by powerful forces in the bar and among leading female members of the bar.

“I determined it was a mistake to call her ‘disapproved,’ ” Mr. Cuomo said during a recent interview. He made Ms. Kaye the first woman on the state’s highest court. Ten years later, the Governor made Judge Kaye the court’s first female chief Judge.

Now, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70, Judge Kaye will retire on Wednesday, ending a quarter-century on the bench having vaulted women to new heights in the judiciary.

Besides knocking down the last major hurdles for women in the judiciary, Judge Kaye, court observers agree, left a record of successes in her stewardship of the Court of Appeals and in her role as chief executive of one of the largest state court systems in the nation.
Posted by Dirk on December 29, 2008 09:04 AM to Judicial Reports