New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Deborah Poritz L’77

For those graduates without a particular battle burning in their bellies, New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Deborah Poritz L’77 had a suggestion of her own: In the ceremony’s keynote address, Poritz called on the graduates to defend one of America’s most fundamental institutions, the judicial branch of government.

“The concept of an independent judiciary is...a simple idea, magnificent in concept. And yet an idea that we as a people have both embraced and lived with most uneasily,” she said, citing incidents such as the case of Terri Schiavo, in which press and politicians heavily criticized the rulings of judges, going so far as to call for their impeachment.