Federal court tells its story through the newspapers

April 29, 2015 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Hon. Joanna Seybert, Hon. Carol Bagley Amon, Hon. Roslynn R. Mauskopf and Luis M. Lopez were on hand for the opening of “The Eastern District in the Headlines” exhibit in Brooklyn’s federal courthouse. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese

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Brooklyn’s federal courthouse continued to celebrate its 150th anniversary when it opened its latest exhibit in the Charles P. Sifton Gallery, “The Eastern District in the Headlines,” with a reception Tuesday afternoon.

The exhibit, which is the 16th in the court gallery’s history, displays headlines and newspaper clippings of some of the courthouse’s most notable coverage from the time it opened in 1865 until today. It features headlines from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the New York Law Journal, the Daily News, the Post, Newsday and other papers.

“If it appears to you that this exhibit is shamelessly self-congratulatory, well, just get over it,” joked Hon. Carol Bagley Amon, the court’s chief judge. “We are very proud of the important cases that we’ve had.”

Bagley Amon referred to Hon. Roslynn R. Mauskopf as the exhibit’s “unofficial curator.” In putting together the exhibit, Mauskopf got help from Circuit Librarian Luis M. Lopez and his staff in the Second Circuit Library.

“The idea for this was very simple — what was the best way to tell the story of the court and the cases that have come through that front door?” Mauskopf said. “We realized that our story, the story of the Eastern District of New York, is told every single day in every single newspaper that covers this court.”

To mark the occasion, the court invited one of its most notable reporters who has covered it in recent years to speak — John Marzulli of the New York Daily News. Bagley Amon joked, “We have asked [Marzulli] to say a few words despite headlines like ‘Three Judges Take A Pass On Trying Terror Case’ or ‘Judge Has Mob Ties,’ referring not to the judge’s criminal activities, but to the fact that the judge lent a tie to a reputed mob boss.”

Marzulli called it the best beat that he’s had at the Daily News.

“It’s also like covering an all-star game in some ways because the judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers are some of the best in the country,” Marzulli said. “Even some of the defendants — I hesitate to use the word best — but they were very good at what they did.”

The exhibit will be open to the public through August.