THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412170247
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: TRENTON, N.J. LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
In a ceremony filled with warmth and humor, James H. Coleman Jr. was sworn in Friday as the first black justice of the New Jersey state Supreme Court.
Coleman, 61, a sharecropper's son who grew up in Virginia, promised to ``continue being a careful and cautious judge'' who is ``concerned with the social facts that touch upon my vision of a just society.''
Coleman replaces Associate Justice Robert L. Clifford, who reaches the court's mandatory retirement age with his 70th birthday Saturday. Clifford, who sat on the court for 21 years, said he relinquishes his seat ``cheerfully and with enormous pride . . . to this wonderful man.''
In an hour-and-a-half ceremony at a packed State Museum auditorium, Coleman drew accolades from everyone from Gov. Christie Whitman, who nominated him in September, to his first-grade teacher, who marveled at how far her student had come from a racially segregated, three-room school in rural Virginia.
He was sworn in at 2:20 p.m. by Chief Justice Robert Wilentz, who presided over the ceremony. Coleman's wife, Sophia, held the Bible while his children, Kairon Michelle Mullins and James H. Coleman III held a robe donated by law clerks. Coleman later donned the robe.
Coleman said he wouldn't let the praise go to his head, but also expressed his pride, saying encountering ``injustice in all its forms'' as a child of the old South was a source of motivation for him.
``The dream of every lawyer has become a reality for me today,'' he said. ``But the road to this premiere state Supreme Court has been so rough, the climb so steep, that looking back still frightens me at times.''
Coleman told of his ``thinking shoes'' - the same pair he had on his feet the day he left Virginia.
``I thought this would be the appropriate occasion for the audience to take a look at how long and how hard I have worked to reach this point,'' Coleman said.
At that moment, his law clerk unveiled the battered shoes, which were mounted on an easel. The crowd of 450 roared with delight.
Coleman also drew laughs by describing his initial phone call from Whitman telling of her intention to nominate him. He said the governor said he had time to think about it.
``How long do you think it took me?'' he said.
Coleman's nomination in September drew widespread praise from the judicial and legal communities. His nomination in the state Senate was swift and the vote unanimous.
``I looked for someone who could bring to this court the highest qualifications, intelligence and integrity,'' Whitman said. ``And I found him.''
State Senate President Donald DiFrancesco called Coleman a man of ``integrity, character, conscience and vision.''
Though a Democrat, Coleman has rejected any kind of philosophical label, saying he is neither liberal nor conservative.
Coleman's status as the first black justice was not lost on the speakers.
Wilentz called it ``a momentous day in the history of our judiciary. For the first time ever we will have an African American on our highest court. Everyone should celebrate this day, for it is a good day for all of us.''
Siobhan Teare, president of the Garden State Bar Association, said she doesn't believe ``everyone clearly understands the great feeling of pride that African Americans have on this day.''
Perhaps the warmest moment of the ceremony was a speech by Virginia Maddux-Hosley, Coleman's first grade teacher from Lawrenceville.
``I remember a little operetta about a rambling rose, the one who would run away from the garden,'' Maddux-Hosley said. ``In the operetta, James was the rambling rose.''
The teacher said she is ``very proud that I played a part in helping to mold the character of this very noble man.''
And she drew laughter from the crowd and a broad smile from Coleman with her description of him as a first grader: ``He was intelligent, cooperative . boy.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Justice James H. Coleman, left, who grew up in Virginia, receives a
hug from retiring Justice Robert L. Clifford, whom Coleman is
replacing on the New Jersey Supreme Court.
by CNB