Judge katzmann good afternoon. I am chief judge of the u. S. Court of appeals for the Second Circuit. With us today along with the judges of the court of appeals are three distinguished justices of the Supreme Court. Our cherished circuit Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg, our beloved colleague, former colleague, Justice Sonia sotomayor who for many years was a member of this court. Last year she graciously launched our 125th Anniversary Program from the bench. Justice elena kagan a great friend of the Second Circuit who participated in our 125th Anniversary Program on Thurgood Marshall. Judicial colleagues, staff, members of the bar, and friends of the Second Circuit it is an honor to welcome you here this afternoon to this special session of court as we bring to a close our courts year long retrospective marking 125 years of the u. S. Court of appeals the Second Circuit. For all of us, it has been special always to be in this historic courtroom where so many noteworthy cases have been adju
And, Justice Elena kagan a great friend of the Second Circuit who participated in our 125th Anniversary Program on Thurgood Marshall. Judicial colleagues, staff, members of the board, and friends of the Second Circuit it is an honor to welcome you here this afternoon to this special session of court as we bring to a close our courts your long retrospective marking 125 years of the u. S. Court of appeals the Second Circuit. To all of us, it is exciting to be in this historic room were so many noteworthy cases have been adjudicated. As chief judge, i serve it first. All are committed to the Effective Administration of justice. We have been fortunate to have the great advocacy of those who have argued in this courtroom. When i proposed a project for 125 Year Anniversary of our court, i did so not for selfcelebration but because any institution, if it is to do its work well should from time to time reflect on its past to better resolve the present in to meet the challenges of the future. T
Dr. Zupans book look at the sources of national decline. Typically when people think about the sources of national decline they often look outside of government at specialInterest Groups that try to coopt government for their own benefit. However dr. Zupan takes a different approach and looks at the sources of national decline that come from inside government , from government insiders and it may cause even more harm to countries and civilizations than the harm that comes from outside of government we are really looking forward to hearing from dr. Zupan today. The way we will be framing todays book forums first we are going to hear remarks from dr. Zupan and then we will have comments from both Lindsay Cutshall from the Brookings Institute and myself. First i would like to introduce dr. Zupan. Dr. Zupan begin his tenure as the 14th president of alford university on july 1, 2016. Histidine at the Business School at the university of rochester from january 1, 2004. Zupan served as dean a
Professor of international law, presenting this program, please join me in welcoming them. [applause] thank you. Without further ado i thought i would plunge into a question for the judge and the biographer. Richard posner, when you were the age of some of the people in this room you were fabulous yates scholar interested in literature. What made you decide to go to law school . Law school was always the default graduate choice. I give some thought to graduate school, decided, not for me. I dont think i can stay. Harvard law school has a formative impression on you, i suppose . It launched your trajectory in many ways. Tell us about the academic experience. It is mixed, but they did something clever. They stacked their best teachers the first year in law school. Very nice. Got a good start. Second and third year, like all the professors i realized thinking about this, i skipped my last year of high school, only 16 when i went to yale college and only 20 when i went to law school, young
Thank you calling and without further ado i thought id pose a question first to the judge alternating between the joint and biographer. Mister posner, when you were the age of some of these people as an undergraduate at yale, but biography tells us you are a fabulous yates scholar, interested in literature. What made you decide to go to law school . Law school is always the default graduate choice for any college graduate. And my father was a lawyer and he gave some thought to going to graduate school in english but decided it was not for me so i dont think i consideredanything else. Harvard law school seemed to have a permanent impression on you isuppose, seemed to change and launch your trajectory in many ways. Can you tell us about the Academic Experience there . Well, it was mixed. But they did something clever. They did attrition in their first year of law school so that was very good. I got a good start. And second and third years were not as interesting. Like the professors, i r