Donning the 'Dissent Chain': Asian American Judges Group Honors Judicial Leaders With Unorthodox Trophies
The annual event, hosted by the Asian American Judges Association, honored Chief Judge Rowan Wilson, Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas, and Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant.
May 08, 2024 at 04:24 PM
3 minute read
JudgesNew York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Rowan Wilson holds many distinctions. He was conferred yet another Tuesday night in lower Manhattan while receiving the Asian American Judges Association of New York's Judicial Excellence Award: a "dissent chain." The unique honor for Wilson—a reference to the bejeweled "dissent collar" that U.S. Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg donned when she read dissents from the bench—came during the AAJANY's annual Celebration Dinner, hosted over dim sum at House of Joy in Manhattan's Chinatown. Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas and Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant were also honored at the event. Shahabuddeen Ally, the supervising judge for New York City's Civil Court and the emcee for the event, noted that Wilson holds the record for the longest dissent ever issued out of the Court of Appeals for his opinion in the case of Happy, an elephant housed at the Bronx Zoo who became a cause célèbre for the animal rights movement. "I went straight away to a judge who wore a certain collar every time she issued a decision," Ally, who also serves as AAJANY President, told the crowd. "But he couldn't wear a collar because that would be a rip off of someone else. I thought maybe a dissent tie? No, no. A dissent bowtie." That still wasn't quite right, Ally said. He produced a box from under a red tablecloth and removed the lid. "Imagine walking into the Court of Appeals and [Wilson] has on, for the first time ever, a dissent chain," said Ally, pulling the large gold necklace out to cheers. Wilson clapped in delight and donned the pendant, as Ally insisted he did not need to wear it. The dissent chain wasn't the only token bestowed upon the chief judge on Tuesday night. Earlier in the presentation, Ally told the crowd that after hearing Wilson joke that Wilson's daughter, Elinor, is plotting to sell off the many award trophies that her father had amassed over the year, Ally thought of a novel way of presenting honors to Wilson and Zayas--professional wrestling-style championship belts bearing the AAJANY logo and their names. In addition to his award belt, Zayas—an avid pickleball player—also received award pickleball paddles bearing the AAJANY logo, and a T-shirt featuring himself playing pickleball in an AAJANY T-shirt from 2023. Wilson and Zayas later mock sparred in their award belts, to laughter and cheers from attendees armed with noisemakers and cowbells. Additionally, Pandit-Durant, the first South Asian woman judge elected in New York State history, was presented with the organization's AAPI Achievement Award.
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