[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 1768-1769] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONORING THE LIFE OF RETIRED NEW YORK STATE COURT OF APPEALS JUDGE MATTHEW J. JASEN ______ HON. BRIAN HIGGINS of new york in the house of representatives Tuesday, February 14, 2006 Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, on April 14, 2005, as New York's highest court prepared to sit outside of Albany for the first time in recent memory, I had occasion to recognize the professional career of retired New York State Court of Appeals Judge Matthew Jasen. During that extension of remarks, I was honored to take note of the many personal and professional accomplishments of Judge Jasen, in a manner consistent with the honors bestowed upon him by his successor colleagues on the Court of Appeals that day. Today, Mr. Speaker, I rise to call the House's attention to the passing of this great legal giant in New York State. Judge Matthew J. Jasen entered into his eternal rest on February 4, 2006, at the age of 90. Without seeking to be repetitive, Mr. Speaker, the fact remains that Judge Jasen was widely regarded as one of the sharpest legal minds of his era. Taking his seat on the Court of Appeals back in the days when that bench was still elected by popular vote statewide, Judge Jasen was the last western New Yorker to serve on the court, and his decisions were widely regarded as fair and impeccably researched. Rising to the position of senior associate judge before his mandated retirement in 1985, Judge Jasen was well known as a lawyer's judge--someone who knew the law, who understood both its limits and its full potential. Following his retirement, Judge Jasen's career in law--even past his 80th birthday--continued to flourish and become all the more distinguished. His appointment by the United States Supreme Court as a special master to assist in determining the true border between lllinois and Kentucky along the Ohio River is but one example of how this keen legal mind continued its contribution to the jurisprudence of his State and Nation. This past Sunday's Buffalo News editorialized the career of Judge Jasen, and it is that editorial with which I will close this extension of remarks. On behalf of all Members of the House, I extend to the Jasen family our most heartfelt sympathy, as well as our appreciation for the many contributions made by Judge Matthew Jasen to the American way of life. Judge Jasen was the Court of Appeals' first Polish-American member, and it is fitting that I close this extension of remarks with the traditional Polish toast--``Sto Lat''--which literally translated means ``100 years.'' While Judge Jasen could not give a chronological century to serve the people of this State and Nation, in effect he made good on that toast, and I am honored to pay tribute to his memory here today. [From the Buffalo News, Feb. 12, 2006] Jasen, Generation's Legal Standout Sorrow flows at the passing of one of the most respected and skilled lawyers and judges of his generation. Former Court of Appeals Judge Matthew J. Jasen, who died Saturday at the age of 90, was both a brilliant legal mind and a respected adviser who guided the practice of law in this region and nationally. Jasen was the first Polish-American and the last Western New Yorker to sit on the state's highest court, serving there for 18 years, becoming senior associate judge there before retiring at the legally mandated age of 70 (a mandate he upheld in writing the high court's opinion on its validity). He also [[Page 1769]] was a highly regarded arbiter who, even in retirement, was called upon by the U.S. Supreme Court to work as a ``special master'' deciding such questions as the proper location of the Illinois-Kentucky boundary along the Ohio River. He was known for clear and concise opinions, and for his mentoring of lawyers and judges. He was a forceful arguer and legal scholar whose fairly common early year dissents to Court of Appeals decisions in several areas were later vindicated in subsequent court rulings, sometimes after his retirement. He won a string of legal honors, including a special Buffalo Law Review issue featuring accolades from the state's top judges. Jasen should have been New York's chief judge; he was proposed for that post by a nominating commission in the late 1970s, but passed over by then-Gov. Hugh Carey for a more politically connected junior judge. As a conservative Democrat and fiercely independent thinker, Jasen had distanced himself from politics while serving on the high court; that cost him politically, but provides a truer measure of his worth as a judge. Even during his retirement, New Yorkers benefited from Jasen's fair-mindedness and independence as he joined or led task forces and committees dealing with matters such as judicial conduct or traffic court fairness, and state agency adjudication procedures. Jasen was a champion of the rule of law, and a man who would have desired no other epitaph. ____________________