Here comes the judge

State Senator John Sabini smiles after helping to confirm the reappointment of the Honorable Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick (left) as Associate Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals at a State Senate hearing recently.
Behind them, a portrait of former Governor, Mayor, Senator, presidential candidate, abolitionist and Queens homeowner DeWitt Clinton bears silent witness to the proceedings.
Judge Ciparick was born in New York City and grew up in Washington Heights. A graduate of St. John’s University School of Law in Jamaica, Queens, she became the first Hispanic woman in any New York court in 1978 and is now the only Hispanic person on the Court of Appeals, where she has served for the last 14 years.