Minnotte, Elizabeth Surgent

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Duquesne Law Review Volume 47 Number 3 The Pennsylvania Issue: Honoring Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy Article 17 2009 Tribute to Ralph J. Cappy, Chief Justice, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Retired Elizabeth Surgent Minnotte Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/dlr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Elizabeth S. Minnotte, Tribute to Ralph J. Cappy, Chief Justice, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Retired, 47 Duq. L. Rev. 605 (2009). Available at: https://dsc.duq.edu/dlr/vol47/iss3/17 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Duquesne Law Review by an authorized editor of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. A Tribute to Ralph J. Cappy, Chief Justice,Pennsylvania Supreme Court, RetiredElizabeth Surgent Minnotte*For twenty years, I declared to anyone within earshot that I hadthe best job in Pennsylvania. I served as the Chief Law Clerk toPennsylvania Supreme Court Justice, Ralph J. Cappy. For thelast five of those years, he was the Chief Justice. In honor of hisretirement from the bench, Duquesne University School of Law isdedicating an issue of its flagship journal, Duquesne Law Review,to the legal accomplishments of Chief Justice Cappy during histenure on the Court. Clerking for Chief Justice Cappy providedme the opportunity to work on the most interesting and legallycomplex cases in Pennsylvania over the last two decades, fromCommonwealth v. Edmunds' to Riverwalk Casino, LP v. Pennsyl-vania Gaming Control Board.2 The intellectual stimulation ofcrafting a complex, comprehensive, and persuasive legal opinionon the Supreme Court is a challenging and rewarding task; but,enough about the law. My assignment is to talk about my boss,and my friend, Ralph Cappy.3In putting pen to paper, I struggled to find an angle from whichto offer the reader a glimpse of Ralph Cappy, as I have known himover the years. How best to convey a word picture of this interest-ing and accomplished man? Initially, the idea of setting forth hisincredible r6sum6 and list of awards and honors seemed fitting.Detailing his college and law school accomplishments at the Uni-versity of Pittsburgh-an institution he remained loyal tothroughout his life, serving as a member of the Board of Trusteesuntil his death-would fill several paragraphs and provide a sense* Elizabeth S. Minnotte served as Chief Administrative Law Clerk to Chief JusticeCappy from 1990 until his retirement from the bench. Mrs. Minnotte is now in privatepractice.1. 586A.2d 887 (Pa. 1991).2. 926 A.2d 926 (Pa. 2007).3. This issue of Duquesne Law Review, and of course this particular biographicalsketch, was begun as a living tribute to an accomplished jurist; with the sudden death ofRalph Cappy, our commentary on his life and its impact upon all the communities andpeople he influenced takes on a different tone. I have endeavored to maintain this piecewith a light touch, as my relationship with Ralph had many dimensions, but throughout allof them there was humor, honesty, and loyalty.605Duquesne Law Reviewof Ralph Cappy, the emerging young leader. I could repeat thestories of how he developed his craft as a negotiator and mediator,while an undergraduate, by working with University of PittsburghChancellor Edward H. Litchfield to settle disputes between theUniversity and his fellow students. According to the well-knownlocal lore of Ralph Cappy, it is this early stint as an advocate forhis fellow students that turned him away from the career hismother wished him to pursue in medicine, to the very public ca-reer he chose in the field of law. After a few stories of his under-graduate exploits, we arrive at his law school graduation, Univer-sity of Pittsburgh School of Law, class of 1968. From here, wecould follow the trajectory of the young trial lawyer who sacrificedthe development of a lucrative private practice to continue uponthe path as an advocate for those in need. This would take us tohis arrival at the newly-created Office of the Public Defender ofAllegheny County.4From this point in the piece, I could talk about Ralph Cappy andall the unusual characters he encountered while honing his court-room skills as an Assistant Public Defender in the criminal andjuvenile courtrooms of Allegheny County. Or I could focus insteadon how Ralph developed his administrative skills, rising throughthe ranks at this fledgling new agency, eventually taking over thereins as Director of The Office of the Public Defender in 1975.With a slight detour at this point in our biographical tour throughthe life and times of Ralph Cappy, I could point out to the readerthat this is when he developed that unique "Tom Sawyer"-style ofleadership that became a hallmark of his superior administrativestyle. Being a Public Defender is not an easy task, but under Di-rector Cappy, the staff enjoyed the long hours and austere condi-tions of their public service and "painted many a fence" with asmile on their faces. Ralph Cappy has that rare ability to convinceyou that dedication and public service for minimal financial com-pensation is not only a valiant and worthy cause, but also greatfun. However, if I were to continue with this linear r6sum6, Iwould now note that his career as Director of the Office of PublicDefender was short-lived.At the early age of 34, the youngest person ever selected to thepost, Ralph Cappy was appointed as a Judge on the Court ofCommon Pleas of Allegheny County. His appointment to the4. With the landmark decision of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), thePennsylvania Legislature enacted the Public Defender Act in 1968.606 Vol. 47Summer 2009bench was quickly followed by his election to a full term on theCourt of Common Pleas, where he moved successfully from FamilyDivision to Criminal Division and then on to become the Adminis-trative Judge of the Civil Division. After rotating through everyimportant type of litigation as a trial judge, Ralph Cappy waselected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1990.This biographical sketch of Ralph Cappy's educational and legalr6sum6 supplies the baseline facts, but it lacks depth and sub-stance.Moving beyond the outline of a r6sum6 piece, I thought to fillout the picture of Ralph Cappy by reciting the applicable, yet typi-cal, platitudes commonly offered to describe successful, accom-plished people. Repeating for common consumption the accolades,well-deserved by Chief Justice Cappy, I note that he is a remark-able legal scholar with a gifted mind for seeing through the tan-gles of a legal conundrum to the correct and just result. Cappy,the jurist and lawyer, has an uncommon work ethic, always push-ing past the accepted point of endurance, while pulling everyoneelse along with him. He remained dedicated to the rule of law andcourageous in his convictions, never afraid to stand alone on prin-ciple.Those things are all true of Ralph, yet they fail to reveal muchabout the person I know, as apart from the Justice I served.After considerable contemplation, I have settled on one simpleword to illuminate Ralph in the sense that I knew him and wouldlike others to appreciate him. Equality is the one word that, in mymind, best expresses the true nature of the man while simultane-ously encapsulating the essence of his tenure as a jurist. ForRalph, equality was not an elusive goal to strive towards in somedistant future. Equality is the baseline by which he lived and thesprit that always motivated and invigorated his legal and judicialcareer. Recently, Chief Justice Cappy was honored as the recipi-ent of the Susan B. Anthony Award in recognition of his dedica-tion to supporting and nurturing women in their professional ad-vancement. Much was made of his lifelong commitment to womenin the law. Throughout his public career, Ralph Cappy hired,promoted, supported, campaigned for, and advised women in theirindividual and collective struggles to achieve recognition and re-spect in the legal community. As a woman, and a direct recipientof the Cappy support system throughout my own career, I trulyand humbly thank him for his efforts on behalf of myself, and allwomen. But I am compelled to point out that his efforts on behalfof our gender tell only a part of the story.A Tribute 607Duquesne Law ReviewTo see Ralph simply as a crusader for the equal rights of womenis to limit the achievements of the man. Ralph Cappy believedthat everyone, of any gender, race, religion, or ethnic origin, de-served a place at the table, and an equal share of the opportunitieslife offers. 5 From my observation point, it was this singular devo-tion to equality across the board that provides a greater sense ofthe man. It is what explains his unerring sense of personal jus-tice. For Ralph, "justice for all" is not just a clever phrase to beengraved on a desk plate or an ideal to be spoken of in remote,wishful terms, but actually, the point to be achieved in each casethat crossed his desk.It was in my tenure as his clerk that I came to see just how deephis sense of equality and personal justice ran. In the chamberswhere we worked to bring his ideals into reality, each of us weretreated with the respect, dignity, and consideration that heworked so diligently to bring out in his opinions over the years. Tohave the honor of working with Ralph Cappy is to know trueequality. There were many moments that we disagreed on pointsof law; there were many heated emotional exchanges fueled byidealism, but there were never any moments when that debatewas less than a respectful exchange between persons of equal in-tellect. This living, breathing feeling of being an equal and valu-able player in the process itself is the inescapable essence of theman and, to me, it defined the true identity of Ralph Cappy.As a jurist, it was always his mission to find the answer thatcreated the greatest balance or sense of equality. His mission topersonally correct the inherent inequality in the world around himis the force that drove Ralph Cappy to be a lawyer, and then ajudge, and then the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. It is the singu-lar characteristic of the man that explains the most about him.Ralph Cappy was destined to be a judge. It was the only true vo-cation for a man of his natural ability. And it was with greatpleasure that I served as his clerk for over twenty years. Thankyou for the best job of my life.5. An obvious example of Chief Justice Cappy's commitment to equality can be seenthrough his devotion to the creation of the Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial andEthnic Fairness in Pennsylvania.608 Vol. 47

Tribute to Ralph J. Cappy, Chief Justice, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Retired

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Tribute to Ralph J. Cappy, Chief Justice, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Retired

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