José A. Cabranes, U.S. Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, Portrait Dedication [11:47-16:50]

Robert Post, Mike Thompson, Mark LaFontaine, Georgian Rodgers, and Jim Barnett. I want to thank also Janet Hanson, Judge Cabronna's ever competent, and as everyone who has encountered her knows, ever patient secretary. And thanks as well to Daniel Mark Duffy, about whom I will have some words later, but whose artistic talents are what bring us here today, and artistic talents you will see shortly. With that, let me turn the podium over to the first of our speakers and to our hosts, to my friend, the Dean, and Saul and Lillian Goldman, Professor of Law here at Yale Law School, Robert Post. It's my privilege today to welcome you all to this Parmitsfa, that honors a distinguished alumnus, a scholar, a mentor, and a judge, Jose Cabronna's. I want to welcome especially his family members, and in particular, his wife, Kate Stiff, who is, as you may know, the Lafayette's foster professor of law here at the Yale Law School, and one of our most distinguished faculty members we are, extremely pleased to host this event in your honor, Judge Cabronna's. This large and varied gathering is a testament, I think, to Judge Cabronna's influence across many different spheres of life. We are honored today to be with Chief Judge Alvin Thompson, himself, a Yale Law School alumnus of the class of 1978, and with the other members of the district court for the district of Connecticut, who are gathered here today in ceremonial session. We welcome Judge Cabronna's colleagues from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and from the many other state and federal courts that are represented here today. We also wish to welcome current and former members of the Yale Law faculty, the Yale administration and the Yale Corporation, and attorneys from Connecticut and the New York Bar, and the many, many others who are here today in this auditorium who have been touched in myriad ways by Judge Cabronna's in the course of his long and magnificent career. I am also extremely pleased to welcome so many of Judge Cabronna's current and former law clerks. It is a fitting tribute indeed that the portrait we unveiled today was commissioned by the generations of lawyers that he inspired. Here today's ceremony, the lovely portrait that was painted by Daniel Mark Duffy, will hang in our alumni reading room. Those of you who are familiar with the Yale Law School will know that this is perhaps the most hallowed space in the Yale Law School. It is reserved for our most admired and accomplished alumni. It includes four justices of the Supreme Court, three presidents, a number of deans, and many distinguished members of the Academy and Bar. These portraits watch over some of the most important events that happen at this school. We literally look up to the men and women who are on those walls. And as Lincoln might have said, it is altogether fitting and proper today that Judge Cabronna's will be elevated to join them. Of course, those of us who know Judge Cabronna's have been looking up to him for a very long time. It was almost five decades ago that he came into this building as a first-year law student. At that point in his life, he had already completed a remarkable journey. He was born in Mayigrass Puerto Rico. His mother was a grammar school teacher and editor and later a civic activist for Puerto Ricans on the mainland. His father was also a teacher and later the chief probation officer for the United States District Court in Puerto Rico and the director of the Puerto Ricans government office in New York. In those early years, Judge Cabronna's parents forged the commitments that have guided Judge Cabronna's life ever since, to education and to scholarship, to family and community, to public service, and to justice. The Cabronna's family moved to the South Bronx when Jose was five years old. He spoke no English, but he excelled in schools graduating from the public schools of New York City and then Columbia College, the Yale Law School, and Cambridge, where he earned a degree in international law. He practiced law in New York and earned a faculty appointment at Rutgers University. Along the way, he took time off to teach history at the Coléjo San Ignacio in Puerto Rico to co-found the Puerto Rican legal defense and education fund and to serve as chairman