[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3451]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE ON THE RETIREMENT OF JUDGE DIANE KARPINSKI

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 7, 2007

  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Judge Diane 
Karpinski of Ohio's 8th District Court of Appeals who is retiring after 
a long and illustrious career. Actually, Judge Karpinski has had two 
careers. After earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in English 
from Ohio State University, she taught for 19 years, first at Ohio 
State and later at Cleveland State University. Then, upon graduation 
from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1980, Judge Karpinski worked 
for thirteen years as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of 
Ohio, trying more than 1600 cases at the trial level and practicing 
extensively in the appellate courts of five different districts in 
northern Ohio and at the Ohio Supreme Court. She was elected in 1995 to 
a six-year term as judge in the Court of Appeals of the 8th District of 
Ohio and subsequently re-elected to a second term. She was appointed as 
a visiting judge on the Ohio Supreme Court for a series of significant 
cases on automatic license suspension.
  Judge Karpinski has demonstrated a strong commitment to her 
professions, first as a teacher and also as an attorney. Active in the 
Cuyahoga County Bar Association, she served on its Certified Grievance 
and the Court of Appeals Committees. Since 1998 she has been a Trustee 
of the Cuyahoga Bar. She is also a member of the Cleveland Bar 
Appellate Court Committee. In 2001, she was the first to chair a new 
committee of the Ohio State Bar Association: On the Independent 
Judiciary and Unjust Criticism of Judges. Because of her dual 
professions, she is often invited to lecture on appellate writing.
  Judge Karpinski values her community and her Polish ethnic heritage. 
With her two sisters, Mercedes Spotts and Gloria Joy Battisti, she was 
a founding trustee of the East Side Catholic Shelter for the Homeless. 
For years she has sung in Our Lady of Peace Church Choir, and for one 
summer was its interim organist. After studying Polish at the Alliance 
of Poles for three years, she joined a team of teachers who traveled to 
Gdansk to teach English in the summer of 1993. Continuing her mother's 
interest in ethnic affairs, especially in the Cleveland Cultural Garden 
Federation, Judge Karpinski volunteered her services as its counsel. 
She was a long-time member of the American Polish Women's Club, has 
chaired the Budget and By-Laws Committees at Alliance of Poles 
Conventions, and served as Treasurer of Group 88 of the Polish Women's 
Alliance. For two years she was a judge for the Polonia Foundation 
Scholarship Committee and currently is a member of the Foundation 
Board.
  Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognizing the great 
accomplishments of Judge Diane Karpinski and her tremendous commitment 
to the people of Northeast Ohio. Let us wish her tremendous success in 
her upcoming third career as retired citizen, where she is sure to 
continue serving the people with energy, distinction, and talent.

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