Trump<\/a>\u2019s second term about his attacks against the independence of the legal profession and judiciary.<\/p>\nThe court system\u2019s theme this year, \u201cThe Rule of Law and the American Dream,\u201d centered on the freedoms of Americans enabled by the nation\u2019s legal system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends, if the oaths we took when we passed the bar are to mean anything to any of us, then we must stand firm against any and all attacks on the rule of law and on the judiciary,\u201d James said. \u201cThis is not a partisan issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson took a more aspirational tack in his remarks on the theme, which centered on our legal system serving as a way of ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to pursue their calling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope for this Law Day is that we recommit ourselves and each other to the original definition of the American dream by recognizing our communal duty and opportunity to fortify governmental systems, protect the freedom to choose one\u2019s path, to express one\u2019s identity and to happiness on one\u2019s own terms,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
Another speaker, New York State Bar Association President Kathleen Sweet, said to the members of the judiciary and legal profession in the audience that the sanctity of the legal oath means holding political leaders to account. She argued that over the past year, Trump\u2019s administration has installed \u201cloyalists who are unqualified, unvetted and inexperienced\u201d in the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe owe a special non-delegable duty to the rule of law,\u201d Sweet said. \u201cWe must speak out for the Constitution. We cannot sit back and hope or wait to see who else might do it. It\u2019s up to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
To top off the ceremony, Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas presented the Unified Court System\u2019s Judith S. Kaye Service Awards, which honor court employees with exemplary work performance, community service and heroism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
David Nocenti, Office of Court Administration counsel; Shannon Pero, a court attorney referee; Nancy Samms, a senior court reporter; and Isidoros Giakoumas, a management analyst in the fiscal department, were honored for exemplary work.<\/p>\n
Eranus Thomas, a Richmond County court clerk, was honored for community service.\n<\/p>\n
A group of 13 court officers in the Manhattan Criminal Court, who defended the court against a knife attack that slashed several officers, were honored for acts of heroism. The officers were ultimately able to subdue the assailant, disarm him and place him under arrest without discharging their weapons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhat we have witnessed recently are extreme overreaches and deliberate violations of our constitution by the federal government,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[383,153,43566,85557,85558,85559,85560,62840,24439,398,9,11112,11,10,49,57300,51,50,85561,85562,51406],"class_list":["post-217032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-department-of-justice","tag-donald-trump","tag-election-integrity","tag-joseph-zayas","tag-judiciary-independence","tag-judith-s-kaye-service-awards","tag-kathleen-sweet","tag-law-day","tag-legal-profession","tag-letitia-james","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-court-of-appeals","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-bar-association","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-rowan-d-wilson","tag-rule-of-law","tag-statesu2019-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}