Katzmann discusses filling Supreme Court vacancy

Cornell Law School inaugurates its Distinguished Jurist in Residence Program April 4-5, with the visit of Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Katzmann will give a public lecture, "Filling the Next Supreme Court Vacancy: The Confirmation Process in Perspective," Monday, April 4, at 4 p.m. in the Stein Mancuso Amphitheater, Room G90, Myron Taylor Hall. The talk is free and open to the public.

In his book on interbranch relations, Courts and Congress (Brookings Institution Press, 1997), Katzmann suggests improvements to the confirmation process of U.S. Supreme Court justices. He served as a special counsel to the late New York state Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the confirmation of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court.

Katzmann was appointed to the second-circuit appeals court in 1999 by then-President Bill Clinton. One of the few judges on the federal bench to hold a Ph.D. (from Harvard) in addition to a law degree (from Yale), Katzmann clerked for the Hon. Hugh H. Bownes, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, before becoming a fellow at the Brookings Institution from 1981 to 1999. He was a professor of law and Walsh Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He founded, and is president of, the Governance Institute, a nonprofit organization that explores, explains and eases problems associated with both the separation and division of powers in the U.S. federal system. He is the author of Institutional Disability: The Saga of Transportation Rights for the Disabled (Brookings Institution Press, 1986), considered a groundbreaking work on disability rights from the points of view of the three branches of government.

The new jurist in residence program brings prominent judges from across the country to the Law School for several days each semester, where they have opportunities to address the public and meet with students and faculty to discuss topics that might range from moot court oral arguments to judicial clerkships to their current research. The program is intended to expose the Cornell community to cutting-edge developments in judicial thought and practice and to strengthen relationships between the Law School and members of the national judiciary.