January 28, 2009
HONORABLE JON O. NEWMAN RECEIVES AWARD FOR
DISTINCTION IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Judge Newman recognized for raising
awareness about human rights and international law
NEW YORK – The New York State Bar
Association’s International Law Section has
selected Hon. Jon O. Newman, Senior Judge,
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, to receive the
2009 Award for Distinction in International Law and Affairs. The award
will be presented today during a luncheon at the Marriott Marquis Hotel
in Manhattan, as part
of the State Bar’s Annual Meeting.
Newman is the first sitting federal judge to receive
the award in its 20-year history. He is being cited for his
contributions to the jurisprudence of international human rights in the
courts of the United States and the important role he has played in
promoting the consciousness in the international legal community about
the need to provide more effective remedies for egregious violations of
international human rights law, highlighted by his 1996 proposal for the
establishment of an international civil court.
“Our section is very pleased and privileged to
honor Judge Newman for the contributions he, as a member of the Federal
Court of Appeals that sits in our own state of New York, has made to the
developing jurisprudence of international human rights law and
procedure,” said International Section Chair Michael Galligan of
New York (Phillips Nizer LLP).
Galligan noted that Judge Newman was the author of the
Second Circuit’s seminal 1995 decision in Kadic v.
Karadzic. In that case, the Court of Appeals,
consistent with its landmark 1980 decision in Filartiga v. PeNa Irala, held that the
U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act affords civil remedies to victims of
genocide, even when the perpetrators claim not to be acting under state
authority. In 1996, he initiated a discussion about the reasoning and
process behind the Karadzic decision. He pointed out
the inherent limitations of national courts to serve as reliable forums
of redressing violations of the law of international human rights and
commended to the consideration of the international legal community a
proposal for the establishment of an international civil court to
complement the work of the international criminal
court.
Widely regarded for his incisiveness and legal
scholarship in copyright, procedural and many other areas of domestic as
well as international law, Newman was appointed to the United States
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1979, serving as chief judge
from 1993 through 1997. He has served as senior judge since 1997. Prior
to his Court of Appeals appointment, Newman served as a United States
District Court Judge for the District of Connecticut.
Judge Newman received his undergraduate degree
from Princeton University and earned his law degree from Yale Law School. Judge
Newman was honored by a special edition of the New York Law School Law
Review in 2002 and, in 2006, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of
his graduation from Yale Law School , a group of
his former law clerks and friends established the Judge Jon O. Newman
Global Justice Lecture series at Yale Law School.
Previous recipients of the award include: The Lawyers
and Judges of Pakistan, as represented by Aitzaz Ahsan; Gillian Martin
Sorensen, Senior Adviser at the United Nations Foundation; Lech Walesa,
former president of Poland; Carlos Salinas de Gortari, former president
of Mexico; Cyrus R. Vance, former U.S. secretary of state;
Boutros-Boutros Ghali, former U.N. secretary general; the late Arthur C.
Helton, director of Peace and Conflict Studies and senior fellow for
Refugee Studies and Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign
Relations; and Alice H. Henkin, director, Justice and Society program,
The Aspen Institute.
The 76,000-member New York State Bar Association is
the official statewide organization of lawyers in New
Yorkand the largest
voluntary state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, State Bar programs and activities have
continuously served the public and improved the justice system for more
than 130 years.
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