[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 43 (Friday, April 7, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2434-S2435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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             TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE VINCENT A. BIFFERATO

 Mr. BIDEN. On March 31st, hundreds of people gathered in a 
lobby of the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware. The focal point of the 
dignified but unassuming room is an information desk, with a big board 
behind it that's used to post the daily schedule for Delaware's 
Superior Court. It is, quite literally, where the Court meets the 
public, and it was the ideal--and perhaps the only--place for this 
particular occasion, a reception honoring Judge Vincent A. Bifferato as 
he retired following 32 years on Superior Court, a total of 36 years of 
public service.
  ``Biff,'' as Judge Bifferato is universally known outside of the 
courtroom, is not the type for a country-club send-off. Part of it is 
roots. His father, born in Italy and never having had an education 
himself, always said he knew his son would go to college, and got to 
see his son sworn in as a member of the Delaware Bar. Biff remembers 
his father on that day, sitting in the front row, crying; ``To him,'' 
Biff says, ``it was the American dream.''
  And Biff knew, as his life since he became a lawyer has proved, that 
there is a second chapter to any true American dream story. It's the 
chapter written after you get there, the story of what you do with 
power and status once you've got them. And the truth is, it's the part 
of the story that matters most.
  What Biff has done in his position as a judge is to combine the 
forceful exercise of authority and the vigorous application of the law 
with an uncommon sense of compassion for and responsibility to the 
people he was there to serve. He had never forgotten what drew him to 
public service in the first place--the opportunity to help people who 
need government, people who need someone on their side in order to have 
a chance. And he has never let those of us around him forget it either, 
always reminding colleagues and students--and anyone else who might 
need to be reminded--of our particular obligation to the least powerful 
of our fellow citizens.
  Biff's concern for how people treat each other is, in fact, the 
hallmark of his character. In his courtroom, small-town lawyers from 
one-person firms knew they stood on equal footing with heavy-hitters 
from the big city. Litigants and witnesses were treated with

[[Page S2435]]

fairness and respect. Decorum and civility were not ideals but 
practiced standards.
  Biff initiated a monthly forum for lawyers because he saw that solo 
practitioners and young attorneys from small firms were not getting the 
mentoring they needed, and also, as he said, that ``[t]here was a need 
for people to be nice to each other.'' That effort to promote 
professionalism and ethics--one lawyer described it as a ``blue-collar 
Inn of Court''--is now called the Judge Bifferato Superior Court Trial 
Practice Forum. And for his leadership in that undertaking and in 
countless others, formal and informal, Biff received the inaugural 
Distinguished Mentoring Award from the Delaware State Bar Association.

  As Resident Judge for New Castle County, Biff also made it his 
mission to ensure that the courthouse staff was appreciated as it 
should be. His emphasis was never on hierarchy but always on the common 
effort, never on the power or prestige of his office but on the 
contribution of each person who helped make the justice system work. It 
was the Court's staff Biff talked about most at his retirement 
reception, concluding simply, ``I love them all.''
  ``Love'' is a word heard often in relation to Vincent A. Bifferato. 
It was striking how often it was used at his retirement. Alongside 
words more expected at such occasions, like respect and esteem, 
``love'' for Judge Biff was expressed by almost every speaker, 
including the Governor, the Mayor and the President Judge of the Court. 
No amount of ability, no standard of professionalism earns that kind of 
affection; it is, rather, a response to this man's grace of spirit, to 
the warmth and sincerity he brings to relationships, to the openness of 
his heart.
  That heart was on generous loan to the Superior Court and to the 
people of Delaware, but it belongs, first and always, to Biff's 
family--to his wife, Marie, to his children and grandchildren, to his 
sister and to his mother, who was there, sitting in the front row, 37 
years after that first swearing-in ceremony. She had always been proud 
of him, she said, long before any of his public accomplishments and 
contributions, because he was always ``a nice, young boy.''
  Biff remarked at his send-off that it was ``a hell of a tribute for 
just doing your job.'' But it was, of course, much more a tribute to 
who he is, a ``nice, young boy'' who made the most of his opportunities 
and then sought relentlessly to open opportunity for others; a leader 
who not only recognizes but genuinely feels his common humanity with 
those in need of help; a man who fulfilled and enriched his father's 
dream--for his family and for all of us.
  Biff will have a successor but never a replacement. As he begins to 
write the next chapter of his life, he has our immeasurable thanks and, 
indeed, our love.

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