Supreme Court Inducts Three New Judges

Msgr. John Gilmartin of St. Anne’s R.C. Church in Garden City was in Supreme Court Monday afternoon, facing not one judge, but a couple dozen. “I feel like I’m in a clergy conference with all these robes in front of me,” he joked before giving his invocation before the inductions of three of the newest members of the court wo were recently elected: Justices Norman Janowitz, Daniel Palmieri and Edward McCarty III.

“As a judge, each of you are in a unique position to bring peace to others by fairly applying the law, respecting others and always remaining humble,” Gilmartin said, advising the trio before him.

It is usually the Nassau County Bar Association who provides robes to the new justices, a duty not carried out this year because the three men were already members of the bench, a fact bar association President Marc C. Gann, Esq. knows very well, having appeared before both Janowitz and  Palmieri  as a criminal defense attorney and before McCarty as a young district attorney. “My clients are thrilled that they are doing civil work now,” Gann said of the judges. “I have saved them many years by virtue of your election to the Supreme and Surrogate’s Courts.”

Before taking their oaths, several speakers were called upon to introduce the justices. “Around our home town of East Rockaway, Norman is widely loved and admired,” Senior Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony J. Santino said of Janowitz, “and that’s no easy feat for the man who was once the village prosecutor, known for throwing the book at anyone who parked their car in the street overnight.” Described as a “country lawyer,” one who “many of the folks in any small town turn to in order to iron out life’s little problems,” Santino said that “Norman was only concerned about his ability to help.”

As he neared the age of retirement - unless elected to the Supreme Court - Janowitz won the Republican nomination in September and was elected to the high court.

“It is indeed an honor and a privilege to assume the prestigious position of a justice of the Supreme Court as it represents a milestone in my judicial career,” Janowitz, who logged 11 years as a Nassau County District Court judge in matrimonial part, said. “What can you say to someone who has made your lifetime dream come true?” he said of Nassau Republican Chair Joseph Mondello on giving him the chance to run and who also administered Janowitz’s oath. He concluded by thanking his “three rabbis whose names all end in ‘o’” - Mondello, Santino, Cairo - as well as his mother and brother in Florida who could not attend as well as his wife, children and grandchildren who provide him inspiration.

Last week the Palmieri’s had gathered at Calverton National Cemetery in memorium of Frank Palmieri, the youngest of 10 Italian siblings who along with older brother Sam dedicated themselves to representing immigrants.

During high school Palmieri “preferred to model himself more after ‘The Fonz’ rather than Richie Cunningham’,” his wife, Mary Ellen O’Brien (Palmieri) said. A horse trainer at Belmont had offered to train him as a jockey. “Personally I have a lot of trouble picturing that relationship between Dan and a horse,” Mary Ellen said. At the urging of family, Palmieri took the the college exam, achieved highly, yet only one admissions officer at St. John’s called for an interview, subsequently asked Palmieri to take the St. John’s entrance exam.  Palmieri again scored high and was offered a spot as an undergraduate before excelling more and going on to the law school and establishing himself in the area of real estate.

“It is difficult to travel with Dan anyplace in the United States whether you’re going to a wedding in a West Virginia coal mine or on vacation in California where he hasn’t been involved in some real estate transaction,” his wife said. With the passing of his first wife, Mary Ann, Palmieri ran and was elected to the county courts, was defeated, went back to private practice and then back to the county court. “It is but a new beginning and Dan wanted me to express his appreciation to all of you for the help and support that got him to this place,” his wife said of his new Supreme Court post. 

“We don’t do this alone,” Palmieri said thanking the audience after being sworn in by retired New York State Court of Appeals judge Joseph W. Bellacosa. “If you didn’t think highly of it and have respect for our judiciary, then our service as such would not prompt you enough to come. We may arrive by different paths, in my case I owe thanks to all those who held my creation or formation or who helped make me what I am. For my part, I will strive to justify your beliefs in my abilities and your respect for the institution of justice as we know it to be.”

As a surprise, Nassau Administrative Justice Anthony Marano also presented Bellacosa with a plaque, saying “he has performed with such excellence. In the word ‘bellacosa’ in brilliance they are simpatico and they go together. He’s been a mentor for all of us.” The inscription on the plaque read “to honor justice and humanity,” along with a Socrates quote: “Four things belong to a judge: to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly and to decide impartially.”

While living in Bellerose Terrace in 1959, McCarty recalled where his father drove him to Holy Cross High School in Flushing, Queens passing signs that read “Welcome to Queens, John T. (Pat) Clancy, Borough President.” One day the sign changed to a new name and election signs were nearby to help elect Clancy surrogate of Queens. Turning to his father McCarty asked “why would anyone want to give up the job of borough president merely to become a surrogate court judge?” His father replied, “Ed, one day you will know.”

Several of the seats in the hall were filled with military brass, friends of McCarty, a retired colonel from the J.A.G. corps who was awarded the Legion of Merit and a Bronze Star during Operation: Desert Storm for saving the life of an enemy soldier. “As we all get older, the stories get better and better,” McCarty said.  The new surrogate judge has also worked to restore judicial services in Kuwait after the first Gulf War as well as helping rebuild court and legal institutions in Haiti. “Ed’s varied experience as an attorney, prosecutor, teacher and judge has earned him the respect and admiration of the legal community for nearly four decades,” Mondello said. “I consider myself honored to call him my friend.”

“It’s always a danger when Ed McCarty speaks, that he’s going to go on too long,” McCarty said poking fun at himself after being sworn in by his brother Richard, a general counsel of XL Corporation. “I pledged to Judge Marano that I would not.”

McCarty sectioned his speech into three, expressing his thanks to supporters, sharing his vision of what the surrogate court will take, and what it means to be a judge. Firstly, intelligence, integrity and initiative “should be the hallmark for anyone involving and embarking on a role of leadership within an organization,” McCarty said, announcing the start of a surrogate initiative for adult autism and neurology impairment which are facing those who reach adulthood. “Special needs trust as well as Medicare reimbursement and other services to them will be explained to them and we will not be practicing law but sensitizing their awareness,” he said.

Plans are also underway to move the surrogate’s offices to the West wing and substitute their courtrooms for the Nassau County Courts. The original plans for the move were drawn up in 1995 by then-justice Raymond Radigan but never carried out. Another improvement would finally bring voice mail to the surrogate’s court.

McCarty also spoke about a case involving a woman immigrant from El Salvador who was struck and killed while crossing the intersection of Washington Avenue and Jackson in Hempstead, but was able to throw her Down syndrome afflicted child to safety. “That child had nothing but a mother’s love shortly before that accident and then he had absolutely nothing except the Nassau County Courts to protect his rights,” McCarty said. In the ensuing trial a female CFO was a reluctant member of the jury. After the four day trial and providing for the child for the rest of his life, the woman remarked to McCarty “this was the most important decision I have made in my life.”

“We judges, we people who wear black, we have to make decisions like that on a monthly basis,” McCarty replied. “Judge I envy you,” the woman said. “That envy was worth more than the pay raises we haven’t gotten in the past 13 years,” told the audience Monday, posing the question of where the ability originates.

“We get it from you, those of you who are here today to mark our appointment as judges because it’s your efforts that have brought our days to come as executors of justice as you see it,” McCarty said. “It is the trust given by you as we raise our hand that is most important. It’s the trust for us to do something extraordinarily special for you, exceedingly special for you individually and that is that we pledge to do it - to give you justice.”