Judith Ann Kaye was an American lawyer, jurist and the longtime Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, serving in that position from March 23,1993, until December 31,2008.
29 Facts About Judith Kaye
2.
Judith Kaye was the first woman to serve as chief judge, the highest judicial office in New York State, and the longest-serving chief judge in New York history.
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Judith Kaye skipped two grades, graduating from Monticello High School aged fifteen.
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Judith Kaye became a reporter for the Union City, New Jersey Hudson Dispatch, where she was a society news reporter, but left to become a lawyer.
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Judith Kaye worked as a copy editor during the day and attended night school at the New York University Law School, graduating with an LL.
6.
Judith Kaye was nominated by Cuomo to be an associate judge on August 11,1983.
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Judith Kaye was confirmed unanimously by the senate on September 6, and then sworn in on September 12,1983.
8.
Cuomo nominated Judith Kaye to fill the chief judge vacancy on February 22,1993.
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Judith Kaye was confirmed unanimously by the senate on March 17, and then sworn in on March 23,1993.
10.
Judith Kaye was confirmed by the senate on March 6, and sworn in on March 19,2007.
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Judith Kaye took steps to make jury service more efficient and convenient.
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Judith Kaye successfully pushed to eliminate all exemptions from jury service.
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Judith Kaye helped establish the Center for Court Innovation, a non-profit think tank that although independent of the court system, serves as the judiciary's research and development arm.
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Judith Kaye emphasized civil liberties and interpreted the Constitution of New York as providing broader protections in some areas than those provided for by the federal Constitution.
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Judith Kaye was viewed as a liberal, but was perceived as moving toward the pragmatic center after becoming chief judge, in an effort to build consensus among the justices.
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Judith Kaye retired on December 31,2008, after reaching the age of 70, the state's mandatory retirement age for judges.
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Judith Kaye gave her farewell speech on November 12,2008, and formally retired on the last day of that year.
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Judith Kaye was the longest-serving chief judge in New York history.
19.
Judith Kaye was elected as the commission's chair on May 21,2009, and she continued in that role until her death.
20.
Judith Kaye died on January 7,2016, at her home in Manhattan, from lung cancer.
21.
Judith Kaye had been diagnosed with the disease about five years before her death.
22.
Judith Kaye received many honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from various universities.
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Judith Kaye served as a member of the boards of trustees of the American Judicature Society, New York University Law Center Foundation, and William Nelson Cromwell Foundation.
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Judith Kaye was a trustee of Barnard College, serving from 1995 to 2002 and again from 2008 to 2009.
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Judith Kaye received a number of awards, including the Distinguished Jurist Award and Gold Medal of the New York State Bar Association and the ABA Justice Center's John Marshall Award.
26.
Judith Kaye received the Barnard Medal of Distinction from Barnard College, the college's highest honor, in 1987.
27.
Judith Kaye was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2003.
28.
Judith Kaye was a longtime member of Congregation Shearith Israel, a Sephardic synagogue in New York.
29.
Benjamin Cardozo, one of Judith Kaye's predecessors as chief judge of the Court of Appeals of New York, was a congregant at the same synagogue.