State Courts in Our Federal System: The Contribution of the New York Court of Appeals
![handle is hein.journals/syrlr46 and id is 227 raw text is: FOREWORD
STATE COURTS IN OUR FEDERAL SYSTEM:
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE
NEW YORK COURT OF APPEALS
Judith S. Kaye-
INTRODUCTION
A decade into his tenure as a Justice of the United States Supreme
Court, William J. Brennan, Jr. reflected on how both the kinds of cases
and the manner in which he decided them had changed fundamentally
since his years as a state court judge in New Jersey. In that lecture,
Justice Brennan noted that this transformation was the inevitable
consequence of his own move from the state to the federal bench and
the different functions of the respective court systems in our democra-
cy.2 Above all, he emphasized the crucial role of state courts in
resolving the vas: majority of the disputes in this nation.3 As he wrote:
[t]he composite work of the courts of the fifty states probably has
greater significance in measuring how well America attains the ideal of
equal justice for all .... We should remind ourselves that it is state
court decisions which finally determine the overwhelming aggregate of
all legal controversies in this nation.,4
This 1966 appraisal of the influence and importance of state courts
rings just as true today.
Justice Brennan's observation that overwhelmingly legal disputes
are resolved in state-not federal-courts is evident in the statistics
alone: state courts across the country currently handle more than
ninety-seven percent of this nation's litigation. With literally tens of
t Chief Judge of the State of New York; Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the
State of New York. I am most grateful to my law clerk Roberta A. Kaplan for her superb
assistance in the preparation of this article.
I. William J. Brnnan. Jr.. State Supreme Court Judge Versus United States Supreme
Court Justice: A Change in Function and Perspective. 19 FLA. L. REV. 225 (1966).
2. Id. at 227
3 Id. at 236.
4. Id.
217](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/syrlr46&div=14&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
State Courts in Our Federal System: The Contribution of the New York Court of Appeals
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most