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46 Syracuse L. Rev. 217 (1995-1996)
State Courts in Our Federal System: The Contribution of the New York Court of Appeals

handle is hein.journals/syrlr46 and id is 227 raw text is: FOREWORD STATE COURTS IN OUR FEDERAL SYSTEM: THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE NEW YORK COURT OF APPEALS Judith S. Kaye- INTRODUCTION A decade into his tenure as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, William J. Brennan, Jr. reflected on how both the kinds of cases and the manner in which he decided them had changed fundamentally since his years as a state court judge in New Jersey. In that lecture, Justice Brennan noted that this transformation was the inevitable consequence of his own move from the state to the federal bench and the different functions of the respective court systems in our democra- cy.2 Above all, he emphasized the crucial role of state courts in resolving the vas: majority of the disputes in this nation.3 As he wrote: [t]he composite work of the courts of the fifty states probably has greater significance in measuring how well America attains the ideal of equal justice for all .... We should remind ourselves that it is state court decisions which finally determine the overwhelming aggregate of all legal controversies in this nation.,4 This 1966 appraisal of the influence and importance of state courts rings just as true today. Justice Brennan's observation that overwhelmingly legal disputes are resolved in state-not federal-courts is evident in the statistics alone: state courts across the country currently handle more than ninety-seven percent of this nation's litigation. With literally tens of t Chief Judge of the State of New York; Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York. I am most grateful to my law clerk Roberta A. Kaplan for her superb assistance in the preparation of this article. I. William J. Brnnan. Jr.. State Supreme Court Judge Versus United States Supreme Court Justice: A Change in Function and Perspective. 19 FLA. L. REV. 225 (1966). 2. Id. at 227 3 Id. at 236. 4. Id. 217