03/24/09—The BC Law School chapter of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies will be holding its second annual William H. Rehnquist Memorial Banquet at BC Law on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. This year’s banquet recognizes the Honorable Dennis Jacobs, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as the 2009 recipient of the William H. Rehnquist Award for Public Service.

Chief Judge Jacobs has distinguished himself throughout his legal career. Since graduating from the New York University School of Law in 1973, Chief Judge Jacobs has had an enormous influence on law in both private practice and the judiciary. From 1973 until his appointment to the Second Circuit by President George Bush in 1992, Chief Judge Jacobs practiced in the New York law firm of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett. In 1980 he became a partner of the firm.

In addition to serving on one of the most influential of the United States courts of appeals, Chief Judge Jacobs has also spent the last twelve years as a member of the Committee on Judicial Resources of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the last ten as its chairman. Judge Jacobs became Chief Judge of the Second Circuit on October 1, 2006.  “In deciding to give the William H. Rehqnuist Award for Public Service to Chief Judge Jacobs, we wanted to reach into a different branch of government,” said Guillaume Buell ‘09, president of the BC chapter, “we are particularly thrilled to be honoring such a distinguished member of the judiciary this year.”

The William H. Rehnquist Memorial Award was established in 2008 to recognize a member of the legal community who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in serving the public. The award was named in memory of the late Chief Justice as a tribute to his decades of service to the United States while on the Supreme Court.

“The purpose of the banquet dinner is to bring together current BC Law students and faculty, alumni who are members of the Federalist Society, and other supporters of the Federalist Society for an evening of celebration of our common ideals,” said Buell. “Last year's reception, honoring Ambassador Paul Cellucci, was a tremendous event which was attended by several legal luminaries, including the chief justice and several associate justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.”

The Federalist Society is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of government powers is central to our Constitution and that the duty of the judiciary is to say what the law is, not what it should be. The Society is composed of those who seek to promote the awareness and application of these principles.

Space is limited; please RSVP by Wednesday, April 8 in order to ensure a spot at the banquet.