[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 191 (Monday, December 4, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17926-S17927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MAURICE ROSENBERG

 Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, Maurice Rosenberg, who passed away 
late last summer, was a well-known advocate for judicial reform on the 
State and Federal levels of government. He was a professor at Columbia 
University's School of Law. I had the great pleasure of working with 
him extensively over the years on the issues of court reform and 
judicial administration. He had a keen legal mind that led him to 
contribute enormously to our system of jurisprudence.
  During his 39-year tenure as a professor at Columbia, Dr. Rosenberg 
wrote and lectured extensively on the legal system, particularly on 
issues of procedure and access to the courts. He had an intense dislike 
for the staggering increase in cases which clog the courts and proposed 
measures to help ease the burden. One of his recommendations was to 
replace juries in small-claims cases with arbitrators. During a 1977 
interview, he questioned the effect on society as a whole of people 
being so quick to sue each other in court.
  Between 1971 and 1975, Dr. Rosenberg headed the Advisory Council on 
Appellate Justice and was later on the Council on the Role of the 
Courts. In 1979, President Carter appointed him Assistant Attorney 
General in charge of the Office for Improvements in the Administration 
of Justice. Previously, he had served on the mayor's committee on the 
judiciary in New York City. In 1980, he was appointed by Chief Justice 
Warren Burger to the Federal Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil 
Procedure, on which he served until 1987. A graduate of Syracuse 
University, he received his law degree from Columbia.
  Dr. Rosenberg was an outstanding court scholar, professor, and lawyer 
who early on foresaw what is now called the litigation explosion. He 
acknowledged that part of the increase in litigation and in the law's 
complexity was due to greater public awareness of rights and a 
willingness to try them out in court. He once said, ``That is certainly 
preferable to having them tested in the streets.'' But he also felt 
that law schools should do more to sensitize students to possibilities 
other 

[[Page S 17927]]
than simply adopting an adversarial frame of mind.
  Maurice Rosenberg will long be remembered as one of this century's 
legal giants. His contributions to the field of jurisprudence will be 
lasting and will guide scholarly thought for decades to come. I extend 
my sincerest condolences to his family in the wake of their tremendous 
loss.
  (At the request of Mr. DASCHLE, the following statement was ordered 
to be printed in the Record.)

                          ____________________