Justice Horace Stern was this week sworn in as the 27th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the first Jew in the history of the state to hold this post. Justice Stern has been a member of the highest state court since 1936.
Speaking in behalf of the Pennsylvania bar association at the swearing-in ceremony, former U.S. Senator George W. Pepper praised the new Chief Justice as a man of ” all around ability well qualified ” for the responsible post. Another speaker at the ceremony, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts, said that Justice Stern ” shares the qualities of two other great judges in the common law, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Benjamin Cardozo.”
Justice Stern, a native Philadelphian, began his judicial career with an appointment to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in 1920. He has long been active in Jewish communal affairs, having served on the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Agency and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, as well as an officer of Dropsie College, Federation of Jewish Charities of Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society and other groups.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
