t h e n e w s l e t t e r o f t h e i n s t i t u t e o f j u d i c i a l a d m i n i s t r at i o n at t h e n y u s c h o o l o f l aw
IN THIS ISSUE
1
Justice Goodwin Liu Delivers IJA’s Brennan Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice
2
Annual Employment Law Workshop for Federal Judges
3
Remembrances:
Kenneth P. Thompson
Remembered by Doug Wigdor,
Wigdor LLP
4
Sheila Abdus-Salaam Remembered by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, New York Court of Appeals
5
IJA’s 59th Annual Appellate Judges Seminar
22
Spotlight on IJA 2017 Summer Fellows
23
News from Board, Faculty, and Friends of IJA
24
Support IJA!
IJA in 2018! March 8 (Thursday)
IJA’s 24th Annual Brennan Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice, featuring Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, New York Court of Appeals
winter 2017
State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights: A Reappraisal Justice Goodwin Liu, California Supreme Court, Delivers the IJA’s 23rd Annual Brennan Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice
O
n March 23, 2017, Justice Goodwin
transcends state boundaries. This redundancy
Liu of the California Supreme Court
in interpretative authority is one way that our
discussed the role of state constitu
system of government channels disagreement
tionalism in American jurisprudence.
in our diverse democracy. My contention is that
Liu focused on the legitimacy of
the legitimacy of state consti
state courts interpreting state
tutionalism mainly turns on a
constitutional rights more
proper understanding of the
expansively than federal consti
structure of our federal system,
tutional rights. He touched on
not on matters of interpretative
state courts resorting to unique
methodology.” He then went on
state sources, such as distinc
to explore this contention with
tive text, purpose, or history of
the audience.
the state constitutional provi
IJA’s annual lecture series
sion, then focused on whether
celebrating state courts honors
a state court can simply dis-
Justice William Brennan, who served five years on the New
agree with US Supreme Court interpretations of a protected right and adopt a
Jersey Supreme Court before his appointment
“dissenting” view as a matter of state constitu
to the US Supreme Court. Brennan urged state
tional law. Examining the latter approach, which
courts to engage in robust and independent inter
has become more prevalent, Liu remarked that
pretation of the individual rights guaranteed
“when there is no state-specific text or history to
in state constitutions. Liu’s “reappraisal” was
guide the analysis, it is no embarrassment for a
delivered during the 40th anniversary of Bren
state court to disagree with federal precedent
nan’s classic article “State Constitutions and
on the basis of constitutional reasoning that
Continued on page 2.
March 21-23 (Wednesday-Friday)
21st Annual Employment Law Workshop for Federal Judges, co-sponsored with the Federal Judicial Center and the NYU Center for Labor and Employment Law
April 13 (Friday)
Effective Appellate Advocacy: Views from the Bench and the Bar, Washington DC
July 15-20 (Sunday-Friday) IJA’s 60th Annual New Appellate Judges Seminar. For information and reg istration: www.law.nyu. edu/centers/judicial/ appellatejudgesseminar