On Sunday last, our band suffered a loss as Phylis Skloot
Bamberger, spouse of Michael Bamberger, passed away. A graduate of
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, (B.A., 1960; magna cum
laude and phi beta kappa) and New York Law School (LL.B., 1963), she spent more
than two decades with the New York City Legal Aid Society before being
appointed to the bench. According to the Oyez archive, when in private practice
she argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (Bell v. Wolfish
(1978); Moody v. Daggett (1976); and United States v. Mara
(1972)). She is reported to have argued some 200 cases to the Second Circuit
Court of Appeals.
It should not be a surprise that lawyer who was the wife and
partner for over half a century of our own Michael Bamberger (who may be better
known to the rest of the world as a courageous constitutional scholar, but we
know to be one of us) is no less of an accomplished polymath than he is.
Judge Bamberger spent her professional life thinking about, and contributing to
the resolution of, the issues of criminal law and the indigent:
·
She spent more than two
decades as an appellate defender with the New York City Legal Aid Society and
in 1988 was appointed the New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx where she
served for eighteen years.
·
She was a prolific
author, whose publications include Specialized Courts: Not a Cure-all,
30 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1091 (2003), The Dangerous Expert Witness, 52
Brook. L. Rev. 855 (1986), Jury Voir Dire in Criminal Cases, 78-OCT N.Y.
St. B.J. 24 Oct., 2006) and other articles as well as co-authorship of the
frequently cited Practice Under the
Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
·
She acted as chair a
New York State Bar Committee charged to study civil representation of indigent
prisoners that in 1974 issued a Draft Proposal for the Provision of Legal
Services to Indigent Inmates in New York State Correctional Facilities.
·
She argued cases at the
highest level. Chief Judge Feinberg of the Second Circuit Court of
Appeals at the Annual Judicial Conference Second Judicial Circuit of the United
States 106 F.R.D. 103 (1984) noted that she “has probably argued more cases
before the Circuit Court than any other member of the Bar,” and “She has argued
an enormous number of appeals, more than 500, in numerous federal and state
courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She participated in
the preparation of at least 1,000 briefs, tried over 50 cases and has been
involved in countless motions. Her professional affiliations, her articles,
teaching positions and American Bar Association committee memberships would
stretch across this room.”
·
For eighteen years she
presided over a criminal trial court that may well have felt like its fictional
counterpart in Bonfires of the Vanities, the Bronx Supreme Court.
Her devotion to justice and compassion was demonstrated
when, in 1990 “she wrote to the New York Times to criticize two articles describing
a rape victim as ‘cut on her arms and hands but not seriously injured.’ Justice
Bamberger wrote, “The suggestion that the rape itself is not a ‘serious injury’
is beyond comprehension. . . . The physical violence inherent in rape is
generally no longer belittled, but the attitude that is expressed in your
articles reflects an unfortunate view of community attitudes lurking below the
surface.” See Lynn Hecht
Schafran, Maiming the Soul: Judges, Sentencing and the Myth of the
Nonviolent Rapist, 20 Fordham Urb. L.J. 439 (1990). Like Michael, Judge
Bamberger was both a multi-faceted legal intellect and a superb human
being. In times like these, we should pause to appreciate how fortunate
we are to know them.
In his book Reckless
Legislation - How Lawmakers Ignore the Constitution, Michael, in the
acknowledgment, wrote:
Most of all, however, I have benefited greatly from the
advice, criticism, and highly skilled editing of my wife, Phylis Skloot
Bamberger, who also endured, without complaint, repeated vacations which I
devoted in part to writing this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment