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I am privileged in at least three ways to be here this evening. First, it is a privilege to receive an award from the Alumni Association of St. John's Law School, an institution that has contributed so much to the welfare and the governance of this city, this state, and this nation. Second, it is a privilege to be included in the list of those who have received this award in the past. Most personally of all, it is a privilege for me to receive an award named after my late colleague and friend John Sprizzo. Fittingly, he was the award's first recipient because he set the standard it represents. Sadly, this is the first time it has been presented when he is no longer among us.1
I know that my remarks are what stand between you and further refreshment and conversation, two of the many pleasures he enjoyed, so I will discuss only two related subjects briefly: One is Judge Sprizzo himself; the second is how much we have need in these times to keep in mind his directness and his clarity of thought.
I first got to see Judge Sprizzo in action when he appeared, then as Mr. Sprizzo, in a case styled United States v. John N. Mitchell and Maurice H. Stans.2 He stood up to argue a motion before the trial judge in that case, the late Lee P. Gagliardi. A few moments into then-Mister Sprizzo's machine-gun style delivery, Judge Gagliardi frowned and looked down at the court reporter, a man named Eddie Baron, who had won several national speed competitions among court reporters. Judge Gagliardi asked him, "Are you getting this?" Without hesitating, Mr. Baron answered, "Every other word, Your Honor."
When I joined the court in 1988, Judge Sprizzo's chambers were just across the hall on the sixth floor of "The Courthouse," as he regarded it. I made several pilgrimages to his chambers for advice, having to keep in mind all the while that you always had to be careful about...