[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E51]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING DEAN L. ANTHONY SUTIN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 29, 2002

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember Dean Anthony Sutin who 
was taken from us in a senseless act of violence at Appalachian Law 
School on January 16, 2002. Dean Sutin was a renowned legal scholar and 
public servant who was an invaluable partner to me on judiciary issues 
while he worked at the Department of Justice. I first met him while he 
was working on community policing in the Attorney General's office in 
1994. I admired his dedication to his tireless work on a program that 
has impacted the lives of so many Americans.
  While I could not do justice to Anthony Sutin's memory by simply 
reciting all of his many accomplishments, a few highlights deserve 
notice. Dean Sutin graduated summa cum laude in 1981 from Brandeis 
University. He received his law degree in 1984 from Harvard, where he 
served as assistant editor for the Harvard Environmental Law Review and 
the Harvard Journal on Legislation.
  Before joining the Justice Department, he worked as a partner in the 
Washington, D.C. law firm of Hogan & Hartson, L.L.P. At the Department, 
he served as Deputy Director and General Counsel of the Office of 
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) from 1994 to 1997. As a 
testament to his outstanding leadership in this area, in its first year 
alone, COPS resulted in a three percent national decrease in violent 
crime.
  From January 1997 to April 1998 Dean Sutin served as Deputy Associate 
Attorney General and Chief of Staff to the Associate Attorney General. 
He was then appointed by Attorney General Reno to serve as Acting 
Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs where he worked 
until November 1998. It was during this historic period in which my 
staff and I interacted with Dean Sutin on a regular basis.
  During his tenure as the head of legislative affairs, Anthony Sutin 
provided invaluable legal insight to the Judiciary Committee on the 
historic impeachment debate. During this uncomfortable period in our 
Nation's history, he was a stabilizing force in communication between 
the Clinton Administration and Congress. It was also during this period 
in which he worked with Congress on a number of crime-related issues 
such as gun control, community policing and hate crimes legislation.
  Dean Sutin was lured away from Washington at the height of his career 
to pursue his dream of teaching law in a small community where he could 
closely interact with his students and other faculty. As dean of the 
growing Appalachian Law School, he cultivated ambition and hope in 
southwest Virginia's struggling coal-mining region.
  Even more noteworthy than his academic and professional 
accomplishments was Dean Sutin's reputation as a kind and compassionate 
man who dedicated his life to raising his family, teaching his students 
and serving the country. Shortly before his death, he and his wife 
Margaret Lawton visited China and adopted a 14-month-old girl. I would 
like Clara and her brother Henry to know that I was proud to know and 
work with a man that dedicated his career in public service to making 
America a safer place for them to grow up and live.

                          ____________________