Introductory Remarks: The Language of Judging

Authors

Lawrence Joseph

Publication Date

1996

Document Type

Symposium

Abstract

(Excerpt)

"The Language of Judging" was the opening event, on September 30, 1994, of the Rededication of St. John's University School of Law. The Rededication coincided with the year of the one hundred twenty-fifth anniversary of St. John's University, and the dedication of a magnificent new addition to the Law School. St. John's, a Catholic university founded by the order of St. Vincent de Paul, the Vincentians, is the largest Catholic university in the United States. Since its inception it has served the New York City metropolitan area, and the Nation as well, in a unique capacity. The Vincentians are an order committed to serving those without means; it has always served those in the New York City area who are from emigre and lower economic class backgrounds, no matter one's religious beliefs. The force of the Vincentian commitment at St. John's is to provide the most excellent education possible to those who otherwise would not have access to one. Its successes are substantial. The School of Law numbers among its graduates some of the finest lawyers and public servants in the Nation. Leonard Boudin, one of the greatest civil liberties lawyers in the history of the United States, and Mario Cuomo, one of the most important, intelligent and morally committed public servants in the history of the State of New York, for example, typify the caliber of an extraordinarily large number of the School of Law's alumnae and alumni. The Rededication of the School of Law was, in essence, a rededication on the part of St. John's students, faculty, and alumni and alumnae, to the objectives of Vincentian excellence-a recommitment to serve, into the twenty-first century, the highest ideals of the mind, the body politic, and the ever complex ideal of justice and all that it involves.