[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 161 (Thursday, September 17, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING JUDGE LISA BLOCH RODWIN FOR HER DEDICATED SERVICE TO THE 
                               COMMUNITY

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                           HON. BRIAN HIGGINS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 17, 2020

  Mr. HIGGINS of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Erie 
County Family Court Judge Lisa Bloch Rod win as she retires from the 
bench after over thirty years of public service. Throughout her career 
as a judge, and previously as a prosecutor, Judge Bloch Rodwin's 
dedication and ingenuity helped secure the promise of equal justice 
before the law more fully for victims of domestic violence and others 
to whom it had previously too often been denied.
  As an assistant district attorney, Judge Bloch Rodwin was the founder 
of one of the first domestic violence bureaus in a prosecutor's office 
nationally. Her work helped change the culture of the criminal justice 
system in Western New York; in important ways Judge Bloch Rodwin's 
efforts led the re-shaping of that system to more comprehensively 
address the scourge of domestic violence and related crimes with the 
vigor and the tenacity that justice requires.
  After her appointment to the bench in 2007, and subsequent re-
elections, Judge Bloch Rodwin continued this important work, developing 
and expanding programs to aid victims of domestic abuse and other 
crimes in under-served communities. She was the founding board chair of 
the Erie County Family Justice Center, as well as a founder of the 
Alexa Foundation, which serves child abuse and sexual assault 
survivors. We in Western New York have not been the only beneficiaries 
of Judge Bloch Rodwin's good work; she has been generous in providing 
the benefit of her widely sought-after expertise nation-wide to 
professionals in the criminal justice system, to national media outlets 
and to academics. It is appropriate that as a result of her work, Judge 
Bloch Rodwin has been the recipient of numerous national, regional and 
local awards and honors.
  I ask my honorable colleagues to join me in thanking Judge Bloch 
Rodwin for her exemplary and courageous efforts, and in recognizing her 
extraordinary career and accomplishments. In specific, tangible ways, 
Western New York and the United States have become more just because of 
the Judge's good work, and we are all in her debt.

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