00:02 - Good afternoon, everyone.

00:04 - Welcome to this ceremonial session

00:06 - of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court here in Philadelphia.

00:10 - The city of brotherly love and sisterly affection.

00:15 - This is indeed a joyful occasion,

00:18 - not only for our newest justice, the Honorable Dan McCaffery,

00:23 - but for his family, his friends and his devoted supporters.

00:29 - Dan McCaffery He is eminently qualified

00:32 - to assume this position as a justice on the oldest

00:36 - Supreme Court in North America.

00:39 - Our court was officially established over 300 years ago

00:44 - pursuant to the Pennsylvania Judiciary Act of 1722.

00:49 - However, our roots date back to William Penn's

00:53 - Provincial Court of 1684.

00:57 - I am proud of our Supreme Court

01:00 - and of each of my colleagues.

01:03 - While we may not always agree or render unanimous decisions,

01:08 - we work collegially and tirelessly

01:11 - to support, obey

01:13 - and defend the Constitution of the United States

01:17 - and the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

01:23 - Our goal is always to provide

01:25 - access to justice for all Pennsylvanians.

01:29 - I know that no one has worked harder to join our ranks

01:33 - than the Honorable Dan McCaffery,

01:36 - and I have every confidence that he will be

01:39 - a tremendous addition to our court.

01:42 - Let me take one moment to pass along the sincere

01:46 - regrets from our colleague, Justice David Wecht.

01:49 - Justice Wecht is giving a series of lectures in Israel,

01:54 - but he sends along his best wishes.

01:57 - And congratulations to Justice McCaffery, whom he describes

02:01 - as an outstanding jurist and a fine human being.

02:05 - High praise.

02:08 - Now it is my honor to introduce a man

02:12 - who truly needs no introduction.

02:15 - The Honorable Congressman Bob Brady.

02:18 - The congressman served in the United States

02:20 - House of Representatives from 1998 to 2019,

02:25 - and he has served as the chairperson of the

02:29 - of the Philadelphia Democratic Party for over

02:32 - 35 years.

02:35 - Congressman, thank you.

02:44 - Thank you, Chief Justice.

02:46 - It's my honor now to introduce Reverend Joseph Campion,

02:50 - President Emeritus, Father, Judge, High

02:52 - School for the invocation.

03:02 - I think it's apropos at this time.

03:04 - If I could ask

03:05 - everyone for a moment of silence for Margaret and Seamus

03:09 - McCaffrey, may their souls

03:17 - and all the souls of the faithful

03:18 - departed to the mercy of God rest in peace.

03:21 - In the name of the Father

03:22 - and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

03:25 - our God of justice, love and peace.

03:28 - We come today in honor of a silly Asian man,

03:32 - a man who is a father, judge, graduates,

03:36 - who understands what justice is about,

03:40 - understands what love of country is about,

03:43 - and understands what love for one another is about.

03:47 - We ask you, Lord, to bless him as he continues to defend

03:51 - and protect the Constitution of the United States of America.

03:56 - We ask you to continue to be with this great state

03:59 - of Pennsylvania.

03:59 - You continue to bless it and all those who lead it

04:03 - and all those that are here today.

04:05 - Almighty God, we give you thanks for Dan's family,

04:08 - those that are here today.

04:10 - We ask you to continue to be with them

04:12 - as he continues to work hard and many hours to do

04:16 - his justice for our great state of Pennsylvania.

04:20 - Almighty God, we give you thanks again for Dan's parents,

04:23 - who are looking down from heaven with us now.

04:26 - So proud of him.

04:27 - And may again Lord

04:29 - be with them as they are so proud in their hearts

04:32 - for their son. Then a mighty God.

04:34 - We ask you to bless the judges

04:35 - here today, the justices here today, and all those

04:39 - who are responsible to continue to carry their oath,

04:42 - to continue to help make Pennsylvania

04:44 - the best state in the United States of America.

04:47 - And we ask this through Christ, our Lord.

04:49 - Amen.

04:50 - In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

04:59 - Thank you, Father.

05:00 - You know, my name is Robert Brady.

05:03 - But it really is Robert McCaffrey.

05:06 - Brady.

05:08 - But then two brothers put me through for 30 years.

05:11 - I of.

05:14 - And while I'm out of luck, get out another middle name.

05:16 - Daugherty, with them two brothers

05:19 - put me through for 30 years.

05:21 - But not Todd.

05:22 - Todd was a sweetheart at that time.

05:26 - But it's it's my pleasure now to bring to the podium

05:29 - someone who, in a very short

05:31 - time is on his way, if not already.

05:33 - There, being the best governor in the commonwealth

05:36 - of Pennsylvania.

05:38 - He's done an amazing job.

05:40 - And it's my honor and my pleasure to be

05:42 - a little bit of a part of him

05:44 - from all the years we were together in Washington

05:46 - many years ago when we were both puppies.

05:49 - Right.

05:49 - And we became great friends then.

05:52 - And let me just say one other thing

05:55 - again.

05:56 - Rendell is not here as a person, Governor.

05:59 - We had

06:05 - and I

06:07 - hopefully I'm going to get on that ride

06:10 - because we'll go further.

06:11 - Am I right, Governor?

06:20 - Chairman Brady, thank you very much for that

06:22 - kind introduction.

06:23 - I will not tell Governor Rendell what you had to say.

06:27 - I am honored to be here today in the presence of Madam Chief

06:32 - Justice Debra Todd and the honorable justices

06:35 - of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

06:38 - I would note for the record, it took the governor 301 years

06:42 - to begin by thanking Madam

06:45 - Chief Justice

06:48 - regulations.

06:55 - I want to thank the chief

06:56 - and all the justices of the court for their dedication

07:00 - and service to the rule of law, to our Constitution,

07:05 - and to the principles that serve

07:07 - as a bedrock of our democratic system.

07:10 - Also want to recognize the honorable

07:12 - justices of the Superior Court, the Commonwealth Court,

07:16 - and the Courts of Common Pleas that are represented here today.

07:20 - And of course, I want to make mention

07:22 - of the lawmakers from the General Assembly

07:25 - who join us,

07:26 - along with the many distinguished

07:28 - lawyers and clerks and elected officials from all levels

07:32 - who join us here in Philadelphia today.

07:35 - And I want to acknowledge my outstanding general counsel,

07:38 - Jen Silber, who is with us.

07:46 - You know, the installation of a new justice on the Supreme

07:50 - Court of Pennsylvania is both important and historic.

07:55 - And your collective presence here today,

07:58 - here in the birthplace of our democracy,

08:01 - speaks to our shared commitment to the rule of law

08:04 - and to the Constitution.

08:07 - I acknowledge many of the elected

08:09 - and appointed leaders who were with us,

08:11 - those who sit on the bench and those who sit in the General

08:14 - Assembly and other positions of trust.

08:17 - I think it's important to note that here

08:19 - in the presence of our newest justice,

08:23 - are a whole lot of folks

08:24 - that don't work in the courtrooms every day.

08:27 - A whole lot of folks that don't interact

08:29 - with our judges or justices, leaders

08:32 - and our unions, leaders in the business community

08:35 - and folks

08:36 - on the front lines in communities

08:37 - here in Philadelphia and all across Pennsylvania

08:41 - who fight to make sure this commonwealth is even better

08:43 - every single day and making a difference in people's lives.

08:47 - I think it's important to note the presence, Madam

08:51 - Chief Justice, of all of those who are not practitioners

08:54 - of the law here today, because I think in recent years

08:57 - we have all come to realize, not just those of us

09:00 - who are members of the Pennsylvania Bar,

09:02 - we have all come to realize the significant role

09:06 - that the courts play in our society

09:09 - from promoting the principles of fairness and equity for all,

09:14 - from dispensing justice without fear or without favor

09:19 - to protecting our democracy and safeguarding the rights

09:22 - and liberties of every individual

09:25 - from their right to vote, to the right of women

09:28 - to be able to make decisions over their own bodies.

09:31 - Now more than ever,

09:33 - we need judges and justices at all levels, but

09:35 - especially at the highest levels in our Commonwealth,

09:39 - who possess the wisdom to balance competing interests,

09:44 - the courage to make difficult choices,

09:47 - and the integrity to remain impartial

09:50 - in the face of competing pressures

09:54 - based on that long track track record of service

09:57 - to our nation and his commitment to these ideals.

10:01 - I'm confident that Dan McCaffery will faithfully

10:05 - serve our Commonwealth and our people on this

10:08 - distinguished Supreme Court justice.

10:11 - McCaffery has given his life to public service.

10:16 - Join the United States Army at just 18.

10:19 - Serve this country honorably.

10:21 - And earned a spot at West Point to the long and distinguished

10:25 - legal career, upholding justice and serving

10:29 - the good people of Pennsylvania in many ways.

10:33 - Justice McCaffery has proven throughout his career

10:36 - that he defends the rights of all Pennsylvanians,

10:39 - no matter what they look like, where they come from,

10:42 - who they love, or who they prey to.

10:45 - And now he joins the oldest appellate court in the nation,

10:50 - a proud tradition that has endured more than 300

10:54 - years, a tradition that is vital to the success

10:59 - and survival of our commonwealth, a tradition

11:03 - that yields

11:04 - a great responsibility that the people of Pennsylvania

11:08 - have chosen Dan McCaffery to uphold.

11:13 - I firmly believe that it is our collective responsibility

11:17 - to maintain and to strengthen that tradition.

11:22 - In part, we are strengthening that that

11:26 - that we are strengthening that tradition

11:29 - from time to time in this Commonwealth

11:32 - by electing new members of this distinguished Court

11:36 - members who possess the qualifications,

11:39 - extraordinary qualifications, like people like Dan McCaffrey.

11:43 - But we also must make sure that our courts have

11:46 - the resources that they need to serve Pennsylvania.

11:51 - I recognize that as governor,

11:52 - together with the lawmakers who are present here today

11:55 - and others who couldn't be with us in the General Assembly,

11:59 - that we have a responsibility to this institution as well.

12:03 - And I want you to know that my administration

12:05 - is committed to following through on that promise.

12:08 - That is why we invested so heavily in my first budget

12:12 - at the request, dare I say, demands of Madam

12:16 - Chief Justice, to make sure

12:21 - that our courts

12:23 - have the resources they need and that collectively,

12:26 - through that investment,

12:28 - we could make sure our criminal justice.

12:30 - System.

12:31 - Is a bit more fair and a bit more just.

12:34 - We care deeply about the work that you do, Madam Chief

12:37 - Justice.

12:38 - We will continue

12:38 - to be faithful partners as we work together

12:41 - to preserve and to strengthen our democracy.

12:44 - I am proud to serve in government alongside Justice

12:48 - Dan McCaffrey and all of the justices who are with us today.

12:53 - May wisdom in the pursuit of justice Dan McCaffrey

12:57 - continue to guide the work that you do each and every day.

13:01 - We welcome you to this distinguished court.

13:04 - And please know

13:05 - that the good people of Pennsylvania,

13:07 - thank you for your service.

13:09 - May God bless you and may God keep you. And may God

13:12 - give you the strength to do this important work.

13:14 - Congratulations.

13:28 - Thank you, Governor.

13:29 - Also, I have the privilege of recognizing a lot

13:32 - of our elected officials here today.

13:34 - Congressman Matt Cartwright. I served with

13:39 - Lacombe, Commissioner Montgomery County Commissioner

13:42 - Jamil Weiner, Montgomery County Sheriff

13:48 - Sean Kilkenny, Delaware District Attorney Jack Stiles.

13:54 - Member.

13:58 - I'm going to take a shot at this.

14:01 - Montgomery Commissioner Neil Makhija,

14:06 - hello.

14:09 - Also, like

14:14 - I was close to

14:16 - Senator John King, Senator Cherry Street,

14:23 - Senator Jimmy Dillon,

14:26 - Gina Tartaglione,

14:29 - Steve Santa Sarah.

14:31 - Also, we have representatives Malcolm Kenyatta,

14:35 - Almond, Brown,

14:37 - Representative Bizzaro and Tim Briggs.

14:40 - Thank you all.

14:41 - Thank you for being here.

14:43 - Now we bring to the stage Thomas Duffy.

14:46 - Thomas Duffy.

14:48 - Montgomery. Kent.

14:49 - Denny McCafferty, campaign manager.

14:51 - Duffy, unfortunately.

15:00 - All right.

15:00 - So if I wasn't really intimidated

15:03 - out of here, everybody else who was here,

15:06 - the congressman, Brady Governor,

15:11 - members of the Supreme Court, Superior Court

15:15 - four kid from 61st and Hazel to find myself up here

15:19 - a guy who went to Bonner

15:21 - talking about a judge guy just kind of overwhelm.

15:24 - But let me try.

15:25 - First of all, I'd like to start out,

15:27 - like I often do, to thank the people here at the Logan,

15:31 - but even to thank the servers, the chefs, the food purveyors,

15:35 - the people who set up these chairs,

15:37 - the AV people, the bartenders,

15:40 - the cleaners, the valets

15:42 - without the workers, we're not here.

15:52 - Without them, nothing happens.

15:54 - I'd like to thank the city committee.

15:56 - I'd like to thank every committee person,

15:58 - every ward leader.

15:59 - I'd like to thank Mayor Parker's campaign who got the vote out,

16:03 - which was the highest awful election year ever

16:07 - in the city of Pennsylvania, in the city of Philadelphia,

16:10 - which is amazing.

16:11 - I'd also like to take a moment to remember Max Baer.

16:16 - Max, when he

16:17 - came on this round in 2003, came on this bench in 24

16:23 - and unfortunately died on September 30th, 2022.

16:26 - His spot would have been open because of retirement anyway.

16:30 - But we have to remember that it's a big seat and big shoes

16:33 - that dance fill in it. That was an important seat.

16:36 - And he gave 18 years of wonderful service on this court.

16:44 - I'd like to.

16:45 - Now talk about the people who are on our team.

16:48 - And first, I'd like to thank Celeste de,

16:51 - who took us through the primary and you know

16:55 - what happened here in 2018.

16:57 - I went over to see Dan at

16:59 - City Hall and he said, I think I'm

17:01 - going to run for Superior Court.

17:03 - And I said,

17:04 - I think we had to have this conversation

17:06 - outside this building

17:07 - because somewhere in the back of my mind,

17:09 - I knew you weren't supposed to do that.

17:11 - We went to the coffee shop across the street.

17:14 - I did go to law school and

17:18 - and I went to a coffee shop across the street and I said,

17:20 - You're white.

17:21 - I said, You just got on here a little while ago.

17:23 - He said, I think I'm going to run for a superior court.

17:26 - And he told me he was going to

17:27 - ask someone to be his campaign chair.

17:29 - And I said, Well,

17:31 - that's all well and good, but I think that guy's a loser.

17:35 - Can I be your campaign chair?

17:36 - And he said, Yeah, if you want, like and little

17:40 - did I know for statewide races later, I'd be standing here.

17:44 - First of all, I'd like to.

17:46 - Celeste really

17:46 - got us through the primary, but I also would like to thank

17:50 - Deborah Councilman for running in that primary.

17:53 - She ran such a classy race

17:56 - and no personal attacks and nothing that was improper.

17:59 - And we had the good fortune

18:01 - of being from the city of Philadelphia,

18:02 - where there was the biggest turnout ever.

18:04 - And she from the middle part of the state

18:06 - where there wasn't a turnout or this would be a closer race.

18:09 - But, Deborah, councilman really is a spectacular judge.

18:12 - And every time I went around trying to get money,

18:14 - people would say, I'm not giving your money against Deborah.

18:17 - We love Deborah.

18:18 - Deborah is great.

18:18 - So I really appreciate that.

18:21 - For the for the general election,

18:23 - we put together another team.

18:25 - We had married a Crawford Rule colleague, Billy Murray,

18:29 - Andrew Romano, Tommy McDonald and J.J.

18:32 - Balaban put together the stuff for TV.

18:36 - And then we had

18:38 - I mentioned Merida.

18:39 - We also had a Rookie of the year

18:42 - straight from Drexel University, Harry Spector, who came on,

18:45 - and somehow it's in her DNA,

18:48 - who knew exactly what to do and how to do things.

18:51 - I'd like to also thank and congratulate

18:54 - the candidates for the Superior Court.

18:57 - Okay.

18:58 - Tamika Lane and Jill back and also

19:06 - and also Matt Wolf.

19:08 - Okay.

19:08 - And every time

19:11 - every time there was

19:12 - some gathering or some meeting, there was a team

19:16 - and everybody talked together.

19:17 - And what was kind of neat is I'd get a text

19:20 - in a Saturday morning from Tamika with a picture

19:23 - saying, hanging out with Dan in southwest Philly

19:27 - with, you know, Senator Williams.

19:30 - And then 20 minutes later,

19:31 - he not knowing you would text me, Dan would say,

19:34 - hanging out with to me

19:35 - in southwest Philly, we're having a good time.

19:38 - So it was a united effort and everybody said, Oh, it's great.

19:42 - We went for four, four. We didn't.

19:45 - We went six for six.

19:48 - We re

19:50 - tained two wonderful superior court judges

19:53 - and vics to Beal and Piniella

19:59 - so that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania went six for six.

20:04 - That six great people are on the appellate division,

20:07 - the appellate court.

20:07 - And Jack, I went through looking through numbers.

20:11 - I mean, Dan got 218,168 votes more than his opponent.

20:17 - I mean, who's counting?

20:18 - Let me repeat that.

20:19 - 218,168 votes.

20:23 - But then Jack got 126,205 votes,

20:27 - more than you did for his retention.

20:32 - Now, it really matters because Jack spent about $13,000

20:40 - and you spent a little over

20:43 - 13 million.

20:45 - But I don't want to, like, act like maybe we

20:48 - should rely on Jack.

20:49 - And that are the 218,000 counts, the 30,000 people

20:54 - we bused in from Trenton to vote.

20:58 - Ah, I also want to congratulate

21:03 - I also want to congratulate

21:05 - and thank the 13 Court of Common Pleas judges who won

21:09 - and the 11 Core Court of Common Pleas judges who were retained,

21:14 - and also the three municipal court judges who are new

21:17 - and the seven who were retained without that down ballot.

21:20 - People getting the vote out and getting people to vote

21:23 - for them.

21:24 - We wouldn't have had the turnout

21:26 - and we wouldn't have had what we had.

21:28 - I am fortunate to be in the Philadelphia

21:30 - Court of Common Pleas to practice here.

21:32 - It is really the best court system in the United States.

21:35 - I don't care what anybody says,

21:37 - I don't care what our detractors say.

21:39 - And under Judge Andrews and Judge

21:42 - Ray Padilla, it's just getting better and better.

21:45 - All right.

21:46 - Now, what really was important

21:48 - in this race, of course, was was getting money from CBT

21:52 - and from the trial lawyers and from organizations.

21:55 - And I have to thank CBT.

21:57 - The Chair, as you all, Galanter, who's going to he's

22:00 - not here today, but he's going to be

22:01 - the next chancellor of the bar than Jack, Larry, Ben, Dusky

22:07 - Kenny Fulginiti and Tim Long and my dear friend,

22:10 - who's going to speak next, Joe Massad,

22:12 - who got unbelievable pleasure

22:14 - that every time that I was in a meeting he'd go,

22:17 - We're going to talk about IEEE stuff and raising money.

22:20 - Bye bye, Felicia.

22:22 - And he would throw me out of the off out of the room.

22:25 - I also want to thank the what I call the senior

22:28 - advisors who weren't trustees Sam Pong, Tom Kline,

22:33 - Jerry Le Hockey, Bob Magliozzi and Nancy Winkler, all of whom

22:38 - put together this effort for this.

22:40 - And last but not least,

22:42 - the father of the Rookie of the Year, Shane and Specter,

22:45 - who really nobody knows the inside game of politics

22:49 - in in Pennsylvania more than Cheney.

22:52 - And when you ever had a question or you ever needed

22:54 - any advice, Shane was always there.

22:57 - I'd like to thank the J.

22:59 - Lisa Benzie and her staff, mostly Ashley Jordan,

23:03 - Liz Chaparro, Jason Matta, Matisse

23:08 - Weiss, Larry Kelly,

23:10 - and also other people around the state who helped us

23:13 - Neil O'Donnell and Billy

23:14 - Goodrich, who were very helpful and the alliance.

23:17 - Okay.

23:20 - So when you're when you're working with Dan,

23:22 - Tommy Sheridan said after Dan's Supreme Superior Court

23:26 - race, it's sort of like dealing with Where's Waldo?

23:30 - Like, where's Dan? He's in Erie.

23:32 - Where's Dan?

23:33 - He's in Allentown. Where's Dan? He's in Pittsburgh.

23:36 - You call Dan at 8:00 at night? We're.

23:38 - I'm on the turnpike.

23:40 - Okay.

23:40 - And I used to joke and say that Dan went everywhere.

23:43 - He even went to Clarion and that nobody went to Clarion

23:47 - since 1977, when they shot the Deer Hunter.

23:53 - When they filmed the Deer Hunter there.

23:54 - So then it became this running joke

23:56 - that I would start getting text and it would be Dan,

23:59 - come and pass Clarion with Clarion eight miles.

24:02 - Or he'd pull into Clarion and take a picture of the town

24:05 - square and say, I'm in Clarion on you idiot.

24:08 - And I thought that was really good. Except Dan

24:12 - Clarion cast

24:13 - a whole total of 8699 votes,

24:17 - of which you got 2545.

24:22 - Okay you lost Clarion by 40 points to

24:27 - now Jack Piniella

24:29 - carry Clarion.

24:33 - But yeah, he got all the Jack but Jack Piniella got 2015

24:39 - more votes and his retention there than you did.

24:43 - So ten years from now,

24:45 - when you come up for retention,

24:48 - I'll go to Clarion or ask

24:53 - Jack how to carry Clarion, because if.

24:57 - You do, if you do pronounce it correctly,

25:01 - it's it's Clarion.

25:04 - You have to be from western Pennsylvania.

25:14 - And they they probably call their team

25:16 - the Steelers or

25:20 - but that's Dan.

25:21 - So when we've started to put this

25:24 - campaign together, everybody said, well, what's

25:27 - what's your message going to be

25:30 - like?

25:31 - There was some formula we put together.

25:34 - I said, we don't have a message.

25:37 - We have Dan

25:39 - and we have what Dan believes.

25:41 - Dan believes that a woman's rights for reproduction

25:46 - P should be a decision between her and her doctor.

25:49 - And that's why Planned Parenthood

25:51 - and every women's organization supported Dan.

25:55 - Okay.

25:56 - Dan believes that voting should be accessible to people.

25:59 - So if you're a waitress or you're a mechanic

26:02 - and you work all day, you can vote by mail

26:05 - and you don't have to stand in line on a Tuesday to vote.

26:09 - And that's why the new Pennsylvania Voter

26:10 - ID project, the ACLU and everybody else that favors

26:14 - voting, voted for Dan.

26:17 - Dan believes

26:19 - that people should have a right to organized labor,

26:23 - that when labor is together

26:26 - and people are in unions,

26:28 - they have the most strong voice

26:30 - and they're not taken advantage of.

26:32 - And that's why everybody came out.

26:34 - Every union came out.

26:36 - That's why the Teamsters and everyone else was behind Dan.

26:40 - All right.

26:40 - Dan believes that the court

26:42 - should be open to people who are hurt and injured.

26:44 - And that's why Pete Clay and AJ was behind him and Dan

26:49 - got the support of everybody from Ask Me to PSC to everybody.

26:55 - So that's

26:55 - why Dan won this election because he's Dan

26:58 - and he didn't have a phony message

27:00 - and when he appeared before

27:01 - editorial boards, he didn't have to hide

27:04 - what he had said before or pretend he was somebody else.

27:08 - I like to say

27:09 - congratulations to you, Dan,

27:12 - and also every diversity, equity and inclusion group back.

27:16 - Dan every LGBTQ group back then.

27:20 - Okay.

27:21 - Dan is. Dan

27:25 - I'd like to say congratulations.

27:27 - Dan, I'd like to say congratulations, Sam

27:30 - I'd like to say congratulations to the family

27:33 - that everybody is great, you know, looking down from heaven.

27:36 - Seamus and Margaret, you know, Marilyn and Madison,

27:42 - I say congratulations to the Supreme Court

27:45 - because you're going to have a new member who's

27:46 - going to pay attention, who's going to care.

27:48 - I say congratulations to the Superior Court

27:51 - because when you write opinions, if they're thoughtful

27:53 - and they're right,

27:54 - they're going to be listened to by people

27:56 - who are going to either

27:56 - affirm you or not take Sir Sherry on stupid issues.

28:00 - And I say congratulations to the people

28:03 - of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,

28:06 - because now we're going to have one more great justice

28:09 - who's going to do and support and do what's right

28:12 - for the people of the Pennsylvania.

28:14 - So thank you, everybody, for letting me speak today.

28:24 - Thank you.

28:25 - Also are we have a few other people

28:28 - that I commend state rep burgess we should.

28:32 - Parker this year and we have a couple of auditors

28:36 - I have to mention wardens because they vote for me.

28:39 - Keith Harris

28:40 - and Bryan Adams also joining us

28:44 - are Braintree new minted council president Kenyatta Johnson.

28:48 - He councilmen Jimmy HAVERTY,

28:56 - counsel council lady

28:59 - Nina Ahmed, Montgomery

29:03 - Treasurer Jason Sallis

29:06 - and Councilman Brian McGinnis.

29:09 - Now, I know Tom Duffy did mention a few people

29:13 - and said a couple of names, but I need to say one more name.

29:17 - It's a great venue.

29:18 - A lot of great people here, a nice place.

29:21 - It just didn't happen.

29:22 - Somebody I know and I've known for many,

29:24 - many years really worked

29:27 - her butt off.

29:28 - And we need to mention that again to Maria Crawford.

29:31 - Thank you, Maria.

29:38 - I like to call up Joe Messer.

29:41 - Joe Misses Pennsylvania Bar Association

29:43 - Messaging Associates for candidates out there.

29:46 - They raise money.

29:50 - Thank you.

29:55 - Thank you, Congressman.

29:57 - Madam Chief, justices,

30:00 - judges, colleagues and friends.

30:03 - At first

30:05 - I was honored to be asked

30:08 - by our new Justice McCaffery to speak at his installation.

30:13 - However, later I was told I had to follow the governor

30:18 - and Tom Duffy,

30:20 - as so many of the governor's

30:22 - opponents in prior elections had seen, and defense lawyers

30:26 - around Philadelphia, following Mr.

30:29 - Tom Duffy in court.

30:31 - I realize this may actually be penance.

30:37 - Also, I knew it was going to be a while.

30:39 - I was waiting for Tom Duffy because he he likes to talk.

30:44 - But for Dan, I'm happy to take the punishment.

30:49 - There is no one I can think of,

30:51 - not already a member of this court

30:54 - who is more qualified, prepared and deserving

30:59 - to sit as the newest justice on the oldest and need.

31:03 - I say, most preeminent state supreme court in America

31:07 - than has been forged for this role for decades.

31:11 - He has dedicated his career to public service

31:15 - and to the citizens of Pennsylvania as a soldier,

31:20 - a district attorney

31:23 - and trial lawyer, protecting the rights of private citizens.

31:27 - He has also dedicated himself to the public

31:30 - and the citizens of Pennsylvania.

31:32 - As a distinguished jurist

31:35 - on the trial bench in the Court of Common

31:37 - Pleas here in Philadelphia and on our Superior Court

31:42 - as a judge of the Superior Court, Dan has authored

31:46 - and participated on panels interpreting the law

31:50 - and rendering decisions of significant importance

31:54 - to the bar

31:55 - and the citizens of the Commonwealth

31:58 - that have helped shape the law.

32:00 - A couple of which

32:02 - I've had the privilege to be a part of.

32:06 - We've heard a little bit about Dan's

32:09 - campaign work,

32:11 - and I've had the opportunity to see his work ethic firsthand.

32:15 - On the two campaigns that Tom Duffy mentioned

32:19 - and his work ethic in his commitment

32:22 - to the court and to the bar

32:25 - and to the people of Pennsylvania,

32:27 - as he traversed the Commonwealth

32:30 - hundreds of times,

32:33 - driving himself

32:35 - hundreds of miles and at times

32:39 - even chauffeuring Judge Lane

32:43 - across the Commonwealth, visiting every county in the far

32:48 - corners and center of the state, including Clarion.

32:52 - They get that.

32:53 - Right.

32:56 - Always full of energy and enthusiasm

33:00 - and talking to anyone and everyone

33:03 - who would listen.

33:06 - There aren't many people out there who outwork me,

33:10 - but Dan did.

33:12 - As he visited and spoke about

33:15 - the importance of our courts and our judges

33:20 - and the rule of law

33:22 - to everyday citizens in the Commonwealth.

33:25 - Unlike those of us in this room who don't often realize

33:31 - how important the court, the judges and justices

33:36 - and the judiciary is to their lives every day

33:42 - Dan has lived it

33:44 - and understands that the rule of law is the foundation

33:48 - to protect the interests of justice, freedom

33:52 - and equity for all people.

33:56 - Where Dan came from,

33:59 - his life experiences, his compassion

34:03 - and experience in the law

34:05 - give him the understanding

34:08 - and the perspective

34:11 - of all Pennsylvanians

34:13 - from every walk of life,

34:15 - those injured at work

34:18 - or due to someone's negligence,

34:21 - those impacted or involved with the criminal justice system,

34:26 - families who require the assistance

34:30 - of our

34:30 - family courts, and of course, importantly,

34:34 - the rights and the protection

34:38 - of our children.

34:40 - I have no doubt

34:42 - that Dan's professionalism, integrity,

34:47 - practicality and ability to build consensus will make him

34:52 - an asset and respected colleague

34:55 - to his brother and sister.

34:58 - Justices.

35:01 - Dan is a Philadelphian, born and raised

35:04 - for at least a bit

35:06 - like me in Germantown before.

35:10 - He moved on up to the Northeast with Senator Dillon

35:15 - and many of our other friends here from Northeast

35:17 - Philadelphia, a graduate of Temple Law School,

35:25 - a Philadelphia trial lawyer, Philadelphia

35:28 - district attorney, and Philadelphia trial judge.

35:31 - Dan understands the unique perspective

35:35 - of the Commonwealth's largest city.

35:38 - He'll be an important asset

35:40 - to our Supreme Court

35:43 - and even help by adding a little balance

35:46 - to the esteemed Steelers fans with whom he'll collaborate.

35:53 - Dan, I'm

35:53 - sure you'll be a welcome addition

35:56 - to our distinguished court, which I will argue

36:00 - in its current make up and with our first

36:06 - woman chief,

36:09 - is the greatest court this Commonwealth has ever seen.

36:13 - Certainly it is

36:16 - in the 35 years that I practiced law.

36:19 - I am proud to have the privilege to practice before the courts

36:24 - of our Commonwealth, and I am confident

36:28 - that Justice McCaffery,

36:30 - along with Madam Chief Justice Todd

36:33 - and his brethren, Justices, will positively

36:37 - and constructively shape the law of our commonwealth

36:41 - for years to come.

36:43 - Congratulations, Dan.

36:46 - Even though you didn't stick it out in Germantown.

36:49 - You've come a long way.

36:59 - Again, as people do come in, I like to recognize them.

37:03 - Our commissioner, Richard Daley,

37:04 - Lisa, another Walter Petrosian.

37:11 - Thank you.

37:13 - This next, gentlemen, I have the honor to introduce

37:16 - is someone that if anybody, anywhere, anyplace

37:20 - wants to get elected to anything,

37:22 - they need to talk to him.

37:23 - He's been my dear friend from many, many years.

37:26 - My neighbor and I know his wife very well.

37:29 - If he gives him any way, just call his wife

37:32 - and he takes care of whatever I need to take care of.

37:34 - But I appreciate and Mr.

37:35 - Phil of the building business manager, Ryan Boyer.

37:48 - I am humbled and proud to share the stage

37:52 - with such distinguished members of the Supreme Court

37:56 - and especially with the first woman chief justice.

37:59 - That is great.

38:03 - I am not a lawyer.

38:04 - I don't get paid by the hour.

38:05 - So I don't have a lot of a speech like Duffy and Matthew.

38:11 - I just represent people that work hard for a living,

38:15 - whether they

38:16 - intend degree weather or 110 degree weather

38:20 - and we support candidates that see them as powerful,

38:24 - although they may

38:25 - not come in with any money or any powerful friends.

38:29 - The courts are the last solace for the people

38:32 - that don't have words to speak for themselves.

38:35 - And as an African-American, the courts

38:39 - have made me free.

38:41 - The court is of utmost importance to us,

38:45 - and we only support those that we know that have the values,

38:49 - the courage and the temperament to judge justly.

38:53 - And Judge McCaffery, you have proven that,

38:57 - and you will make a great addition to the Supreme Court.

39:02 - The Philadelphia building trades.

39:04 - We're very proud, very proud that we were

39:08 - that we represent men and women that allow us to take

39:12 - a small portion of their hard earned wages

39:16 - so that we can financially support

39:19 - candidates like you and some of the candidates up here.

39:22 - Definitely some of the candidates

39:24 - down there, because the courts are important.

39:30 - The courts is where you have your fair shot,

39:35 - where your billion dollars

39:38 - or your $1 should not matter.

39:41 - Justice should be blind.

39:43 - And in this environment that we're in now,

39:47 - where they're trying to control the books that we carry,

39:52 - what we can consume on the Internet and on television,

39:55 - what women should do with their bodies,

40:00 - how you should

40:01 - have your First Amendment right to join the union

40:05 - not be infringed upon

40:08 - those that are a weighty issues of this era.

40:13 - And we don't take that lightly.

40:17 - It's a very solemn duty

40:19 - and a very solemn oath that you'll take.

40:22 - And I am fully confident

40:24 - that you execute with fidelity and you'll make us all proud.

40:28 - Thank you.

40:39 - Also joining us, Chester,

40:41 - Democratic chair, Charlotte Waller

40:44 - Westmorland, Democratic Chair Michelle McFall,

40:47 - Holder Erie Democratic chair Jim Works

40:51 - and my neighbor, Delaware County Chair Colleen Garland.

40:54 - Thank you.

40:59 - Now I'd like to introduce

41:00 - Neil Myra, chief deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania.

41:13 - Good afternoon.

41:14 - It's it's, of course, quite an honor to be here

41:18 - before the assembled court's members of the judiciary,

41:22 - the legislature and all of Dan's good

41:25 - friends, family, people who know Dan very, very well.

41:30 - I. I'm Neil Mara.

41:33 - So my knowledge of Dan,

41:37 - there has been a lot of outwardly looking

41:40 - comments about elections, very important,

41:45 - Dan's work ethic, Dan's drive.

41:48 - My perspective on Dan is, is a little more personal.

41:51 - We've been very, very close friends for over 30 years.

41:55 - I when I was asked to speak at this event,

41:59 - it was, of course, a thrill and a real honor.

42:02 - I said to Dan, That's a real honor.

42:04 - It's also been a lot of fun because it forces you to

42:08 - reminisce, to look back

42:10 - over the last 30 years and to see who we were,

42:14 - think about who we were then and who we become now.

42:18 - So our story began all the way back on Labor Day

42:22 - weekend, 1991, and I'm trying to think of who we were then.

42:27 - I was fresh out of law school

42:30 - in Connecticut.

42:33 - Not that one.

42:34 - Not Yale University of Connecticut.

42:38 - And I got a job in the Philadelphia district

42:41 - attorney's office.

42:42 - So I traveled down here to Philadelphia, and

42:45 - I knew nothing about the city.

42:47 - I was very excited, intimidated the job.

42:49 - So on the first day I got up for day training,

42:53 - put on my suit, walked over to City Hall, and

42:56 - at that time, I didn't know how to work.

42:58 - City Hall.

42:59 - I mean, I literally didn't know how to work the building.

43:02 - That's how unfamiliar I was.

43:04 - I showed up at City Hall.

43:05 - I strode confidently

43:07 - into one of the grand archways, entered the building,

43:10 - and walked through to what I now know

43:12 - is the grand courtyard of City

43:13 - Hall realizing there were no entrances there.

43:17 - I was here to protect the city to serve the city,

43:20 - and I couldn't find out how to get into the building.

43:23 - That was my that was my first, you know, really.

43:27 - About 5 minutes before training began.

43:30 - So I had my first big case of crack as an assistant D.A.

43:33 - How to get into City Hall.

43:36 - I ultimately got into city hall

43:38 - and attended training, and I met the class of 1991.

43:43 - Several members are here today, and that's when I,

43:48 - as a complete Philadelphia neophyte,

43:50 - first came into contact with the force of nature

43:53 - that I later learned was Dan McCaffrey.

43:56 - So here I am, a rookie from Connecticut, meeting

43:59 - essentially Captain Philadelphia.

44:03 - It was a rapid education.

44:07 - I quickly was immersed in Philadelphia law,

44:12 - law, Philadelphia history tales of Philadelphia neighborhoods,

44:15 - the schools.

44:17 - I had a very steep learning curve and I learned it.

44:21 - I my social life began to expand.

44:24 - I was having fun.

44:26 - I was finding this stuff out.

44:28 - And I realize now, looking back, it was all because of Dan

44:33 - that that education and growth.

44:36 - The other funny thing

44:37 - was I remember standing right at a place, Mason's crossing,

44:40 - which is a well,

44:41 - was a well-known bar, right outside the front doors here.

44:44 - The justice knows it.

44:46 - And this evening I may have been standing

44:48 - next to you, I'm not sure,

44:49 - but it was at the end of my first week of training,

44:51 - and I remember looking at the Logan Square fountains,

44:54 - and the fountains were glorious.

44:56 - It was a hot summer night just after Labor Day.

44:58 - And I remember wondering what was beyond those fountains.

45:01 - I was so to the city.

45:03 - I subsequently maybe not

45:05 - because Dan learned that it was the art museum.

45:08 - So that that was that was the exposure that I needed.

45:13 - So, Dan,

45:15 - in typical fashion, I came to find that

45:18 - I came to realize this over the years.

45:20 - And upon reflecting for this event,

45:23 - what happened is Dan took me under his wing.

45:25 - Dan, I began to meet friends.

45:27 - I began to go out.

45:29 - I began.

45:29 - And I was living alone in a small studio apartment.

45:33 - I remember I said there on weekends, I didn't use my voice.

45:37 - I had no one to talk to.

45:38 - Dan invited me to live in his rental house in Fairmount.

45:42 - That's how that started.

45:44 - I agreed, sight unseen.

45:46 - I was thrilled to have a friend.

45:48 - Was it a dump?

45:50 - Yeah, it. It.

45:52 - It was a it was a it was a dump.

45:56 - Was it?

45:57 - Do I realize now reviewing all this, was

45:59 - I only one who was actually willing

46:01 - to share the rent on this place?

46:03 - I realize that now. I didn't realize it then,

46:07 - but so we

46:08 - had a lot of fun and we learned a lot.

46:11 - And we came to call it our beloved Fairmount.

46:14 - It was it was it was a wonderful place to live.

46:18 - So I after

46:22 - after he invited me to move in

46:25 - those those years again, I said, we're wonderful,

46:27 - but we often have a few beers, we'd have a few laughs.

46:30 - I remember one night in particular

46:32 - after a couple of beers, typical of Dan's competitive nature,

46:36 - as I think most social gatherings probably do.

46:39 - It broke out into competitive wind sprints,

46:42 - which, I don't know, maybe people don't do that.

46:44 - But Dan did that.

46:47 - I remember what I watched.

46:48 - Of course,

46:49 - I having a few beers

46:51 - and then running competitive wind sprints is about the most

46:53 - physically incompatible thing anybody can do.

46:57 - I don't think anybody set personal records that night, but

47:00 - egos may have been bruised, but no personal records were set.

47:06 - So all of this was happening.

47:07 - And I didn't realize at the time and I think many, many people

47:11 - in this room recognize that this was all because of Dan,

47:15 - any growth, all my exposure, a lot of my exposure

47:18 - to Philadelphia, everything was because of Dan.

47:22 - And so my role

47:26 - here or my angle on this proceeding is

47:29 - is a personal one, and I thank you for that.

47:34 - When I found a place to live, when I had something to do,

47:36 - I just thought I was lucky.

47:37 - I just thought that things are breaking my.

47:39 - I realized it wasn't that at all.

47:40 - It was because of it was because of Dan.

47:43 - And I think a lot of us probably have similar stories.

47:47 - I think we share that perspective on Dan

47:54 - and Time Went By.

47:55 - Dan went on to raise his beautiful family, Marie and

47:58 - Madison.

47:59 - And we did the fair the fair amount years chug by

48:03 - but Dan and I had been together through thick and thin,

48:06 - through almost 30 Army-Navy games,

48:09 - through the wind and the rain and the snow of that experience.

48:12 - If you haven't been strongly you to go.

48:16 - So he so

48:18 - he taught me

48:19 - Dan taught me about neighborhoods,

48:21 - taught me about the history of the city.

48:22 - I learned from that,

48:24 - taught me about the criminal justice system

48:26 - and the personalities in it.

48:27 - I learned from that.

48:29 - He taught me about Philadelphia Sporting.

48:32 - I learned from that.

48:33 - Recently, Dan has become a fitness and nutrition guru.

48:38 - And and he taught me about that.

48:42 - And I learned we all go at our own pace on stuff. But

48:46 - I it's

48:48 - I learned that for some it's a little more of a project.

48:51 - Then for others.

48:53 - But my education continues and I'm optimistic that, you know,

48:57 - I think we can all agree.

48:59 - Adding a fitness and nutrition guru to your annual Christmas

49:03 - dinner is a real great addition.

49:07 - Yeah, can be a little inhibiting.

49:09 - Let's just forget I ordered the porterhouse steak.

49:14 - But no, you're good natured about it.

49:15 - And you provided me with a lot of literature about

49:19 - volumes and magazines.

49:21 - Literally, you know?

49:22 - And so far the only thing I've used them

49:24 - for I will use them, but what I've used them

49:26 - for is to mount my laptop.

49:28 - So my zoom camera has a better angle

49:32 - and I look a little thinner.

49:37 - So there's benefits everywhere.

49:38 - And we all we all go at our own pace.

49:41 - It's funny,

49:42 - you know, we go to a dinner like this

49:44 - and Dan truly is if you have nutrition questions,

49:48 - you know,

49:48 - if you weren't joining this this very esteemed court,

49:52 - I think you could teach a course at Temple

49:54 - on nutrition and fitness.

49:56 - So that's fun having Dan on your right.

49:59 - Our other friends are training

50:00 - for full length Ironman triathlons.

50:04 - That's the other side of the table

50:06 - at the Christmas dinner.

50:07 - So that's a lot of fun too.

50:08 - We're 16

50:10 - that which I didn't really foresee that happening.

50:13 - But but it's all it's all very enjoyable.

50:16 - And I thank you

50:18 - for all of the energy that you put into all of that.

50:21 - I whether it was instilled

50:25 - in Dan, we've we've heard a lot about him, but

50:29 - whether it was instilled in

50:31 - Dan from his family, from the Army,

50:35 - from sports, from the rugby field, I

50:40 - Dan is all about service to the community.

50:43 - It's been the way he was the day I met him.

50:46 - And it's the way he is sitting here today.

50:50 - It's is it's his hallmark.

50:52 - And I'm sure your parents

50:54 - are as proud of you today as they've been forever.

50:58 - It's fun to think of them here, looking at

51:01 - what's going on in this room now, it's remarkable.

51:04 - I was thinking of your parents getting on the ship,

51:07 - coming over, wondering where this was going to be,

51:10 - wondering what was going to happen.

51:12 - And to think that this is where the family journey has taken

51:16 - has taken hold is is fascinating

51:19 - and just wonderful and really very moving.

51:23 - But no matter how busy Dan is, no matter how tied up he is,

51:29 - his generosity has been constant since 1991, I think.

51:34 - I'm not telling this room anything.

51:36 - It didn't already know.

51:39 - He shows up for his friend's

51:42 - surprise birthday parties at Dan.

51:44 - You're a guy who says yes to life, and that's a cliche,

51:48 - I know, but it it makes it makes you exciting.

51:52 - It makes you fun.

51:53 - It makes you inspirational.

51:55 - And it's it's just it's great to be around

51:59 - your energy is and focus is is really well known.

52:04 - You bring it to every aspect of your life.

52:08 - I've been around you a lot.

52:09 - You bring it all the time except for golf,

52:13 - where, you know your energy somehow is not quite as focused.

52:17 - We joke we've golfed hundreds of times together.

52:20 - We joke that

52:22 - every time we go out, we play the same round of golf.

52:24 - Since 1991, the score is neither improved nor gotten worse.

52:29 - If our ball goes in the sand trap,

52:31 - we still don't know how to get out of it.

52:32 - It's something we really should have learned a long time ago.

52:37 - Dan is a very talented campaigner.

52:40 - The work ethic thing is, is really real.

52:43 - I know that because our friendship often

52:45 - takes a year or two, a year and a half short break is that

52:48 - I get the same phone calls from the road, that sort of thing.

52:52 - And I know that you're always you're going from point to point

52:55 - and from coast to coast here

52:57 - in this commonwealth all the time.

52:58 - So your service to the party and to the community is,

53:02 - is, is matchless.

53:07 - So the the the other thing was, is that

53:11 - Dan's talents are he's a talented judge.

53:13 - He's a talented attorney.

53:15 - But more importantly, you're a talented friend.

53:17 - And all those things are skills an attorney, a judge,

53:21 - a campaigner.

53:22 - So as being a friend

53:25 - and again, I think I speak for

53:28 - probably many, many people in this room.

53:31 - It just comes

53:32 - naturally to you and you just get it.

53:35 - I think you're defined

53:38 - by your generosity,

53:41 - and I think you're defined by your kindness,

53:45 - which is probably not a word that comes up very often

53:49 - in the public sphere these days.

53:52 - But but at your core, you're kind.

53:58 - The other word that comes to mind

54:00 - when I think of my very good friend Dan is honor.

54:05 - Since 2013, you've been called the Honorable Dan McCaffery.

54:09 - You were obviously honorable well before then.

54:12 - It is.

54:13 - It is who you are it is in your DNA.

54:18 - And to think of a kind, generous,

54:24 - smart, honorable man

54:27 - with an unstoppable work ethic

54:30 - joining this court.

54:33 - That's very exciting.

54:34 - Very exciting for

54:36 - your friends here, your family to watch you grow.

54:39 - And it's very exciting too, for the Commonwealth

54:41 - to get your skills at such a high level. So

54:46 - Justice McCaffery.

54:56 - From Friedman Shuman. P.S.

54:59 - Robert Nemeroff.

55:16 - Good afternoon, Governor Schapiro

55:22 - The Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court.

55:26 - Congressman Brady

55:28 - and other distinguished guests.

55:31 - I have the distinct honor and privilege

55:34 - of having been asked to deliver a few remarks

55:38 - on behalf of my long time

55:42 - friend, my former partner,

55:45 - and the newly elected justice to the Supreme Court.

55:48 - MCCAFFERY

55:50 - So I want to take you back

55:52 - to the year 1988,

55:56 - the nascent law firm of Jaffee

56:00 - and Nemeroff was in its first year of operation

56:04 - on Old York Road in Elkins Park.

56:07 - And fortunately, during that first year,

56:10 - we were sufficiently busy, which ultimately led

56:14 - and prompted us to hire, to need and hire.

56:18 - Law clerk And along came

56:21 - this third year, young third year law student

56:24 - from Temple University Law School, Dan McCaffrey.

56:28 - And we hired him as a law clerk.

56:31 - And we recognized fairly

56:33 - quickly after working with Dan that

56:37 - he may be special

56:40 - because he combined

56:41 - those sought after qualities

56:45 - which are really the foundation

56:47 - for becoming a great litigator,

56:50 - intellect,

56:51 - work ethic, the ability to think on one's feet,

56:56 - elocution and

56:58 - compassion and incisiveness.

57:04 - We decided to offer Dan a job

57:06 - before he graduated from law school,

57:09 - and he turned us down

57:11 - because he had his sights set on becoming an assistant

57:15 - district attorney in the Philadelphia

57:17 - District Attorney's Office so that he could obtain jury

57:20 - trial experience, which was really admirable

57:23 - for a young lawyer with litigation aspirations.

57:28 - And for the next six years, Dan excelled in the DA's office.

57:32 - Now, at that time, the timeframe

57:37 - for a young ADA

57:40 - to make his way up the ladder

57:43 - and try homicide cases was roughly ten years,

57:48 - and they had climbed that ladder

57:50 - in less than six years and quickly became

57:53 - one of the city's top prosecutors.

57:56 - And during his six years at the DA's office,

57:59 - Dan and I stayed in close contact

58:02 - as a result of our developing friendship,

58:04 - particularly during football season, as he and I were both

58:09 - and continue to be staunch Eagles fans.

58:13 - One morning

58:14 - I was at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia.

58:17 - Don't ask me why.

58:18 - Because I've been a civil litigator my entire career,

58:22 - and I have no recollection as to what brought me to the CJC

58:25 - that morning.

58:26 - But there I was early one morning in the main lobby

58:31 - and the elevator doors open and Dan walks out of the elevator

58:35 - and sees me and approaches me and says, You know, Bob,

58:38 - I think I'm interested in making some real money.

58:44 - And I said, Well,

58:46 - are you interested in rejoining the firm?

58:49 - And he said, yes, which had then grown substantially

58:53 - and then was hired as a litigation associate.

58:57 - And at the time the law firm was known as Jaffee, Friedman,

59:00 - Schuman, Nemeroff and Appelbaum. So

59:06 - there was one hitch.

59:08 - Dan had no

59:09 - civil litigation experience, none.

59:13 - And so for the first two years, I worked closely

59:17 - with Dan to familiarize him with civil litigation,

59:21 - which really was an easy task because Dan was

59:24 - a really quick study and it wasn't very long before

59:27 - Dan had his own caseload,

59:31 - was trying cases successfully, and became the firm's

59:34 - leading commercial litigator and chaired that department.

59:40 - It was also not very long before

59:41 - Dan rose through the ranks of the firm

59:44 - and became an equity shareholder.

59:47 - Now, as long as I've known Dan,

59:50 - which now is more than 35 years,

59:53 - he's always been ready for the next challenge,

59:58 - 096 which in part

01:00 - 03.533 after 13 years with our firm, is what prompted him

01:00 - 07.704 to seek election to the bench when the Court of Common

01:00 - 11.574 Pleas in Philadelphia, which he accomplished in 2013,

01:00 - 13.142 where he was

01:00 - 17.013 highly effective at disposing of criminal cases,

01:00 - 17.914 in fact had one of the

01:00 - 20.583 highest disposition rates of any judge on the bench.

01:00 - 24.654 And that was before he decided to seek election

01:00 - 27.290 to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, where once again,

01:00 - 30.994 Dan excelled due to those enviable qualities

01:00 - 37.700 which I described earlier, this diversity of litigation

01:00 - 39.135 experience

01:00 - 43.006 and judicial experience, combined with Dan's unwavering

01:00 - 47.210 humanity, make made him the perfect candidate

01:00 - 50.213 for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a position

01:00 - 53.916 to which he has now ascended.

01:00 - 57.720 We in this room, together with the citizens of this

01:00 - 00.023 Commonwealth, are in a better place.

01:01 - 02.725 With Dan McCaffery serving on the Pennsylvania

01:01 - 07.296 Supreme Court, I have no doubt that my long time friend

01:01 - 13.202 will serve honorably, effectively and decisively.

01:01 - 16.039 Dan, we could not be more proud of you

01:01 - 18.641 and your accomplishments. Thank you.

01:01 - 27.850 Again.

01:01 - 32.021 It's my pleasure to introduce Madam Chief Justice Debra Todd.

01:01 - 34.424 But I want to make an observation.

01:01 - 38.961 We have you have a great, great justice from the city

01:01 - 42.198 of Philadelphia and Kevin Daugherty, a great justice,

01:01 - 45.068 having another great justice from the city of Philadelphia.

01:01 - 48.037 And the McCafferty.

01:01 - 50.506 So, Madam Chief Justice, you got to share

01:01 - 56.245 the Irish twins.

01:01 - 58.448 Thank you, Congressman Brady.

01:01 - 00.917 It is now my pleasure to introduce

01:02 - 04.287 another individual who truly needs no introduction.

01:02 - 07.657 Retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice

01:02 - 18.668 Seamus McCaffery.

01:02 - 23.206 I had the privilege of serving on this court with Justice

01:02 - 26.943 McCaffery from 2008 to 2014.

01:02 - 29.479 And prior to that, we were colleagues

01:02 - 31.514 on the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

01:02 - 34.650 Seamus was born in Belfast,

01:02 - 37.620 Northern Ireland, and emigrated to the United States

01:02 - 39.122 when he was five years old.

01:02 - 42.325 After growing up in Philadelphia,

01:02 - 46.262 he served in the Marine Corps and served

01:02 - 49.832 as a Philadelphia police officer for 20 years.

01:02 - 53.636 He was elected to the Philadelphia Municipal Court,

01:02 - 57.840 where he achieved quite a bit of fame and then ascended

01:02 - 00.443 to the appellate courts of our Commonwealth.

01:03 - 06.082 I know that no one is more proud of Dan

01:03 - 10.920 today than his big brother, Seamus.

01:03 - 21.497 It is no small accomplishment for two brothers

01:03 - 25.368 to serve on the highest court of any state,

01:03 - 29.505 and I'm not aware of this ever happening in another state.

01:03 - 32.642 So I now am privileged to ask

01:03 - 36.946 Justice Seamus McCaffery to come forward to administer

01:03 - 02.238 the ceremonial oath of office to his brother, Dan No.

01:04 - 05.208 So there you go.

01:04 - 08.578 You wrote that after you got.

01:04 - 14.951 Here to appreciate that

01:04 - 17.520 we've been here from day one.

01:04 - 19.622 Before we start, I just want to make one comment

01:04 - 22.992 in my office and in all my offices

01:04 - 25.728 for many, many years, I have a framed photograph

01:04 - 29.365 and it's a picture of me in 1968 at Parris Island,

01:04 - 32.268 literally graduating boot camp,

01:04 - 35.538 standing on the Marine Corps, Iwo Jima memorial,

01:04 - 39.175 standing with me and holding my hand with a little baby boy.

01:04 - 43.145 They know

01:04 - 52.722 we have a great family.

01:04 - 55.791 Sadly, mom and dad can't make it

01:04 - 57.260 here.

01:05 - 00.830 Raise your right hand.

01:05 - 02.465 Repeat after me.

01:05 - 02.999 I in.

01:05 - 05.534 Your name, I Daniel Desmond McCaffery.

01:05 - 06.736 Do solemnly swear.

01:05 - 09.005 Do you solemnly swear that I will support.

01:05 - 11.040 That I will support, obey and defend.

01:05 - 13.542 And defend the Constitution of. The United States.

01:05 - 15.177 The Constitution of the United States

01:05 - 16.746 and the courts and the Constitution

01:05 - 17.546 of this Commonwealth

01:05 - 19.215 and the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

01:05 - 21.350 And that I will be to discharge the duties.

01:05 - 24.320 And I will discharge the duties of my office, of my office

01:05 - 26.756 with Fidelity with fidelity. So help me, God.

01:05 - 27.690 Help me, God.

01:05 - 06.429 Congratulations, Justin.

01:06 - 22.345 Thank you.

01:06 - 27.149 Justice McCaffery, please

01:06 - 43.032 join your colleagues on the bench.

01:06 - 47.803 Thank you all

01:06 - 51.140 so much for coming to my bar mitzvah.

01:06 - 53.309 I didn't have one when I was 13.

01:06 - 56.779 I'm happy to have one now. So

01:06 - 00.216 in all honesty, I just want to start off

01:07 - 01.350 by thanking everybody I know.

01:07 - 02.251 We spent a lot of time

01:07 - 04.520 in the room, a lot of my speakers

01:07 - 06.422 that I specifically chose for a reason.

01:07 - 07.056 There are people that

01:07 - 10.526 who have been with me pretty much my entire life.

01:07 - 14.163 Governor SHAPIRO I met back then.

01:07 - 16.198 It was just Josh.

01:07 - 19.502 I met Josh when he was a 27 year old chief of staff

01:07 - 22.271 for Congressman Joe Hoeffel.

01:07 - 26.142 I had just left the Philadelphia DA's office 1996, 1997,

01:07 - 29.879 joined that wonderful firm, Jaffee, Nemeroff, Jaffee,

01:07 - 32.882 Friedman, Schuman, Nemeroff, and Appelbaum became McCaffrey.

01:07 - 36.919 I was the sharpest cookie, and I met young

01:07 - 39.355 Josh SHAPIRO

01:07 - 42.324 at 27, and I'll never forget it.

01:07 - 43.793 We had a fundraiser for Joe Hoeffel

01:07 - 46.195 and his chief of staff came in, and I remember talking

01:07 - 47.730 to some of my friends in Montgomery County,

01:07 - 50.199 and back then Montgomery County was all Republican,

01:07 - 51.033 now it's Democrat.

01:07 - 52.935 And some friends of mine were saying

01:07 - 56.005 the, Congressman's chief of staff is here.

01:07 - 56.672 He wants to pick up

01:07 - 59.241 some of the residual checks that we left over.

01:07 - 00.376 And I said, Why do you want to meet me?

01:08 - 02.912 And everybody smiled and said, You don't understand.

01:08 - 04.914 This is Josh SHAPIRO and he's going places

01:08 - 07.883 from the bottom of my heart.

01:08 - 10.219 I can't tell you how proud I am to have known you

01:08 - 12.721 for as long as I have to have seen you accomplish

01:08 - 14.757 what you've accomplished as a state representative,

01:08 - 16.926 as a county commissioner, as an attorney general,

01:08 - 19.161 and now as the great, great governor

01:08 - 20.863 of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

01:08 - 29.738 We're all so proud of you.

01:08 - 32.541 I want to thank Joe Messer and Tom Duffy.

01:08 - 34.310 And Tom, I'll get to you later.

01:08 - 37.279 But by the way, you should all be aware.

01:08 - 38.614 I was thinking about trying

01:08 - 40.950 to take my comments down about 5 minutes

01:08 - 43.085 and then I was reminded by two make in Jill

01:08 - 44.920 about all the times that we drove 4 hours

01:08 - 47.423 to speak to ten people and we had 2 minutes.

01:08 - 48.991 So they said, Take your time on this one.

01:08 - 51.727 So I think I will.

01:08 - 54.296 Joe Messer

01:08 - 56.966 Joe has been a Philadelphia trial lawyer

01:08 - 59.235 and a bit of a legend for quite some time.

01:08 - 00.636 I asked Joe to say a few words here

01:09 - 02.605 because I've been a proud

01:09 - 04.773 trial lawyer, I've been a proud Philadelphian,

01:09 - 06.308 and during the course of the campaigns,

01:09 - 07.977 you get to meet other people and you see

01:09 - 09.812 a bit of a likeness in yourself.

01:09 - 11.881 And I saw that right when I met Joe.

01:09 - 12.781 He's a fierce,

01:09 - 15.684 fierce, fierce advocate for the things he believes in.

01:09 - 18.120 And I'm thankful that you believed in me.

01:09 - 20.823 So thank you, Joe.

01:09 - 26.595 Ryan Boyer, who I think you just had to sneak out.

01:09 - 29.131 He's someone I've met years ago when he was just a labor.

01:09 - 30.099 I've watched

01:09 - 32.101 Ryan literally come up and now become the head

01:09 - 33.903 of the Philadelphia Building Trades.

01:09 - 35.437 He's leadership personified.

01:09 - 36.839 He wears more hats

01:09 - 38.774 than just about any person I've ever seen in my life.

01:09 - 40.709 He's been a friend, a trusted ally,

01:09 - 42.845 and somebody that will fight for you tooth and nail

01:09 - 45.514 because he believes in the things that I believe in.

01:09 - 48.117 He believes in working class men and women.

01:09 - 50.553 He believes that everybody should be treated

01:09 - 52.121 in the courtroom with dignity and respect.

01:09 - 53.289 And I'm going to thank Ryan Boyer,

01:09 - 55.658 and I would thank all the people from the building trades

01:09 - 04.200 for their support of me and for coming here today.

01:10 - 04.833 No matter

01:10 - 08.370 your weight loss is going well.

01:10 - 10.306 I just in the bottom of my heart,

01:10 - 11.874 the black suit is slimming.

01:10 - 14.910 You look great. You really do.

01:10 - 17.313 Neal and I met in the first day in the DA's office,

01:10 - 21.317 and we became like brothers from day one.

01:10 - 24.086 Neal is somebody

01:10 - 26.355 who has been there for me from day one.

01:10 - 29.124 He is somebody who I've known, and he's kept me grounded.

01:10 - 30.826 He's kept my ego in check.

01:10 - 32.161 And most importantly, and I'm sure you can

01:10 - 34.797 all figure this out, he's kept me laughing for 32 years,

01:10 - 36.432 and I want to thank you for your friendship.

01:10 - 39.868 It's been special.

01:10 - 44.840 And finally to Bob Nemeroff.

01:10 - 48.510 Bob is being a little bit coy, but

01:10 - 52.281 I really don't know what to say to somebody who is my mentor

01:10 - 53.182 and just about every

01:10 - 55.684 every way.

01:10 - 56.752 Bob hired me.

01:10 - 58.354 He was wrong about one, by the way.

01:10 - 00.723 He hired me as a first year, not a third year.

01:11 - 02.791 And I worked as a clerk for two years in law school,

01:11 - 05.394 and they treated me like a little brother.

01:11 - 06.295 And at the firm was called

01:11 - 09.465 Jaffee and Nemeroff at the time it was

01:11 - 11.467 Bob and it was a person who can't be here.

01:11 - 12.801 Tonight was one of the greatest people

01:11 - 13.802 I've ever met in my life again.

01:11 - 15.671 Gary Jaffe And I don't want to talk about Gary

01:11 - 17.740 because he might be great, but Gary

01:11 - 20.142 is no longer with us.

01:11 - 20.843 He passed away,

01:11 - 21.510 but they treated me

01:11 - 22.878 like a little brother for three years

01:11 - 25.014 when I was in law school, and they gave me the opportunity.

01:11 - 27.516 I went to the DA's office six years.

01:11 - 31.020 Like Bob said, we kept in touch and then I rejoined the firm.

01:11 - 34.890 And Bob literally has taught me how to be a lawyer.

01:11 - 36.558 He taught me to be a lawyer.

01:11 - 39.461 He taught me to be an advocate for people.

01:11 - 41.797 But more importantly, as Neal mentioned

01:11 - 45.301 beforehand, Bob, somebody with a kind heart and a generous soul

01:11 - 48.070 and just as importantly as somebody that I consider

01:11 - 50.339 myself, not just a mentor, as an attorney

01:11 - 52.474 who trained me to being a lawyer, but a mentor as a man,

01:11 - 54.710 because I can't think of a better man than Bob Nemeroff.

01:11 - 56.145 So thank you, Bob.

01:12 - 03.786 So we've had a lot of people

01:12 - 05.921 get up here and thank a lot of people.

01:12 - 08.657 So I'm going to continue the tradition.

01:12 - 10.893 No one gets here and no one stands on this stage alone.

01:12 - 14.296 If you're in this particular room right now,

01:12 - 15.931 everybody's looking at me.

01:12 - 17.166 I'm the one wearing a black robe

01:12 - 18.867 and I'm the one wearing the collar.

01:12 - 20.903 But today's really not about me.

01:12 - 22.438 Today's about you.

01:12 - 24.873 And I look around this room, and everybody in this room

01:12 - 27.142 has been invited here for a particular reason

01:12 - 28.677 because you played a part.

01:12 - 31.146 And where I stand here today,

01:12 - 32.981 the men and women of the legal community,

01:12 - 35.150 the men and women of the labor community,

01:12 - 37.753 friends, men and women of the political community,

01:12 - 40.823 the people that have been with me from day

01:12 - 43.058 one, people have joined me in my journey.

01:12 - 44.193 I literally look around the room

01:12 - 45.427 and I've got friends I grew up with.

01:12 - 48.197 Mary TONER I still call you Mary TONER after 40 years

01:12 - 51.367 and Mark Arcidiacono people I grew up with people

01:12 - 53.068 I went to high school with, people

01:12 - 53.769 I went to college

01:12 - 56.271 with my friends from law school are all sitting in the back

01:12 - 59.842 there praying, this is an open bar.

01:13 - 02.010 It is

01:13 - 06.648 my friends from the DA's office,

01:13 - 08.450 from the mayor and several other ones.

01:13 - 10.953 Macy's Crossing is closed, but again, open bar

01:13 - 14.656 and my friends from Friedman,

01:13 - 16.892 Schuman, Bob Nemeroff included Peter Friedman.

01:13 - 19.595 Carrie Schumann made it to see you, Carrie.

01:13 - 20.863 David Appelbaum

01:13 - 24.099 and my other partners who like I said, a four or five,

01:13 - 27.503 six Jewish guys took a little Irish-Catholic kid in,

01:13 - 29.304 taught him how to be a lawyer

01:13 - 30.606 and taught him how to be a little bit brother.

01:13 - 31.140 And you know,

01:13 - 32.975 you guys give me my start and I really appreciate

01:13 - 35.344 you coming here and being here today.

01:13 - 37.780 The campaign is a journey in and of itself,

01:13 - 39.815 and you meet some great people along the way.

01:13 - 41.650 And as I mentioned, if you're in this

01:13 - 44.420 particular room right now, you're in here for a reason.

01:13 - 45.888 And I appreciate everything you've done.

01:13 - 48.390 But as a couple of people, I have to kind of point out,

01:13 - 51.960 because as everybody's alluded to, it is a grind.

01:13 - 54.129 When you're running around the state,

01:13 - 55.664 it is very difficult to drive

01:13 - 59.101 two and a half, three miles or 3 hours to a strange place

01:13 - 01.236 where you don't know anybody and.

01:14 - 02.771 You're trying to kind of talk to people,

01:14 - 03.839 you're trying to get support.

01:14 - 05.674 And that

01:14 - 14.883 includes Clarion.

01:14 - 19.054 But there are people

01:14 - 22.458 you meet along the way and they stay with you.

01:14 - 24.827 And they've always stayed with me in 2003,

01:14 - 26.361 I got to go out when my brother Seamus

01:14 - 28.063 was running for the Superior Court.

01:14 - 32.534 And, you know, Seamus is he's a different type of personality

01:14 - 34.002 than maybe somebody who can walk in a room

01:14 - 36.572 and dominate the conversation and the drop of a dime.

01:14 - 39.508 But we picked up friends, so many friends along the way.

01:14 - 42.978 And 27, he ran for Supreme Court with now Chief Justice

01:14 - 45.681 Debra Todd, who I'm so thrilled to serve with.

01:14 - 48.150 And we pick up friends and we pick up friends

01:14 - 49.818 along the way in every part of the state.

01:14 - 52.721 And I don't care where you are in northeastern Pennsylvania.

01:14 - 55.824 You people like Neil O'Donnell, you meet people

01:14 - 58.260 like Congressman Matt Cartwright, Colleen Garrity,

01:14 - 00.963 the county chairs in northeastern Pennsylvania.

01:15 - 02.931 And every time you're coming in that particular area,

01:15 - 05.133 you give them a call and you say, I'm coming up.

01:15 - 06.602 And Neil O'Donnell

01:15 - 08.804 and the congressman and Colleen Garrity are friends

01:15 - 10.973 from northeastern Pennsylvania, Scranton, Billy Joyce.

01:15 - 12.975 They're there for you every.

01:15 - 14.376 Step of the way, you step out of the car.

01:15 - 16.411 They're there with a group of people that they're the Brewers.

01:15 - 18.580 I see Pat Brier and Danny Brier here,

01:15 - 20.582 and it's the same thing in northwestern Pennsylvania.

01:15 - 22.317 Brian Bizzaro

01:15 - 24.486 We met Brian Bizzaro years ago and Ryan Bazar

01:15 - 25.988 always stayed with us

01:15 - 27.656 when we're going to northwestern Pennsylvania.

01:15 - 28.156 Ryan's there

01:15 - 28.957 when you pick up the phone

01:15 - 30.692 with Jimmy Wirtz, the county chair

01:15 - 32.427 who just resigned to run for state Senate.

01:15 - 33.762 I want to thank you for your friendship,

01:15 - 35.664 and I thank you for everything you've done up there.

01:15 - 36.298 Val, stop.

01:15 - 39.568 Our old friend from the Democratic State Committee.

01:15 - 41.036 Southwestern Pennsylvania.

01:15 - 42.638 So many people from the labor community

01:15 - 44.206 in southwestern Pennsylvania out

01:15 - 46.275 same house, Greco, the county chair,

01:15 - 48.076 all of the county chairs that are here today.

01:15 - 49.411 I see Colleen Gagne in the room

01:15 - 51.446 and I see so many other county, county chairs

01:15 - 53.282 that have helped us along the way.

01:15 - 55.250 Linda Fields, who nominated me

01:15 - 59.221 at Democratic State Committee this year and gave a beautiful,

01:15 - 02.724 beautiful speech about why she was supporting me.

01:16 - 04.893 And these are all things that kind of mean

01:16 - 06.929 a lot to me on a personal level,

01:16 - 08.096 because I don't look

01:16 - 09.998 at the people in this room as just supporters.

01:16 - 12.267 I look at the people in this room as friends,

01:16 - 14.970 people who stood up for us and people who were there for us

01:16 - 17.306 from the beginning in southeastern Pennsylvania.

01:16 - 18.240 I don't even know where to start.

01:16 - 19.408 Steve, Santa Sarah is here.

01:16 - 19.775 Our state

01:16 - 22.611 senator and county chair in Bucks County and John Disco,

01:16 - 26.248 Diane Marseglia, Bob Harvey, Jason Salus, Marcel Growing.

01:16 - 29.651 I can go on and on from Montgomery County and by the way

01:16 - 39.227 it's Neil McKee here.

01:16 - 40.862 I'm letting you know that because I think you're going

01:16 - 43.265 to be hearing a lot of that name in the future. Okay.

01:16 - 44.566 Jamila Winder, you're going to hear

01:16 - 45.901 so many great people. Colin

01:16 - 48.904 Gagne, Danny Muir of Delaware County, Charlotte, Valeo,

01:16 - 51.273 Valeo

01:16 - 52.808 and her husband Steve,

01:16 - 54.943 and Brian McGinnis, my friend from Chester County,

01:16 - 58.313 and so many other great friends in southeastern Pennsylvania.

01:16 - 01.950 As everybody's alluded to, I'm a proud Philadelphian.

01:17 - 04.853 I was born here. I was raised here.

01:17 - 07.122 And I

01:17 - 09.224 when I became successful, I moved to the other side

01:17 - 10.659 of the boulevard from where I grew up.

01:17 - 12.160 So for those people,

01:17 - 13.629 the room, you'll understand what that means.

01:17 - 17.399 But to me, it means that I didn't go too far

01:17 - 19.101 because somebody told me a long time ago

01:17 - 21.269 that if you don't want to forget where you came from,

01:17 - 22.738 don't ever leave.

01:17 - 24.373 And I never left.

01:17 - 25.741 It's been that important to me.

01:17 - 27.643 And with this Philadelphia,

01:17 - 30.345 the labor community has adopted me from day one.

01:17 - 32.814 The Labor leaders that are in this room,

01:17 - 34.950 we've alluded to a lot of them.

01:17 - 37.319 They were the first to step up and say,

01:17 - 39.721 we're supporting Dan McCaffrey for the Court of Common Pleas.

01:17 - 41.790 They supported me for the Superior Court.

01:17 - 44.126 They backed me for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

01:17 - 46.728 The labor community include the Pennsylvania

01:17 - 47.896 and Philadelphia building trades.

01:17 - 49.998 You've heard from Ryan Boy, you've heard about Rob Baer.

01:17 - 52.501 The state building trades who was there for me?

01:17 - 53.135 Ryan Boyer.

01:17 - 56.238 Tony, I will O'Mara's from the laborers all across

01:17 - 59.107 Pennsylvania with me every step of the way, stepping up.

01:17 - 02.177 You've heard about the people from the page page, Jimmy Snell,

01:18 - 05.914 Kenny Broadbent, Wayne Miller, Georgie Pegram, The Carpenters,

01:18 - 07.249 Bill Sproul,

01:18 - 10.452 Mungo Sanchez, and my oldest and dearest friend, Bob Burns.

01:18 - 12.254 You in the back of the courtroom right now.

01:18 - 14.089 I can tell you

01:18 - 16.091 a story about Bob and I when I going out drinking

01:18 - 17.826 too much and moving furniture in our underwear.

01:18 - 22.030 But I won't bore you with that story, but it looks great.

01:18 - 24.433 And Tony White is, by the way.

01:18 - 25.267 All right.

01:18 - 27.936 Teamsters, Billy Hamilton, Danny Grace,

01:18 - 29.905 Carl Bailey, John, Sarah.

01:18 - 30.806 Operating Engineers.

01:18 - 33.742 Jimmy Reilly, Danny Sullivan.

01:18 - 35.544 Tom Lesko.

01:18 - 37.779 All of the people from the electricians union.

01:18 - 39.147 Marc Lynch is here. T.J.

01:18 - 40.315 LaPierre is here.

01:18 - 43.051 Ask me dave henderson,

01:18 - 43.952 everybody.

01:18 - 46.621 I'm also including in here my close friend, my good friend,

01:18 - 48.090 a person who's been with me from day

01:18 - 50.926 one who's never away from me, not one time.

01:18 - 53.361 And that's John Daugherty. He couldn't be here today.

01:18 - 03.438 I'm asking everybody in the room to pray for him.

01:19 - 07.075 John's father recently passed away.

01:19 - 08.710 His wife is still sick.

01:19 - 10.779 He could not be here today,

01:19 - 12.481 but he is somebody that, like I said,

01:19 - 14.750 I've known him since 1991.

01:19 - 16.518 He's been a friend. He's been a confidant.

01:19 - 18.286 He's a guy we run through through a wall

01:19 - 21.423 for you and Mark and T.J., you're just doing a great job

01:19 - 25.360 in that particular as well.

01:19 - 28.730 Finally, all of my friends, my guys from international union

01:19 - 30.232 painters and allied trades

01:19 - 33.535 for any McLaughlin, Timmy Crowder, Matt Trask.

01:19 - 34.536 I walked in the door tonight.

01:19 - 35.337 The first thing Franny

01:19 - 36.905 McLaughlin said to me was,

01:19 - 39.641 You have no idea how flush my pact fund is since

01:19 - 42.444 you're no longer running.

01:19 - 48.416 Thanks for any, most importantly,

01:19 - 51.419 the person who really is the fighter

01:19 - 53.388 inside the trades for me, the person who got me going.

01:19 - 54.322 And that's Joe Ashdown.

01:19 - 57.092 Joe Ashdown is one of those

01:19 - 58.860 guys you meet in your life and you're kind of like that.

01:19 - 00.962 It's funny because every conversation

01:20 - 02.531 I have with Joe goes one of two ways.

01:20 - 03.632 I call him up and I tell him

01:20 - 07.502 I need something, and he says, I'm on it.

01:20 - 10.272 The next day he calls you back and said, It's all good.

01:20 - 11.706 It's taken care of.

01:20 - 13.975 That's the kind of guy Joe Ashdown is.

01:20 - 15.710 Every single time I run for office,

01:20 - 17.412 somebody from the building, trades would call me and say,

01:20 - 18.680 I've already got the phone call from Ash.

01:20 - 19.981 They'll work with you.

01:20 - 21.783 Joe, I want to thank you for your friendship.

01:20 - 24.319 I want to thank you for your leadership.

01:20 - 26.087 I hope I've repaid a little bit

01:20 - 29.224 by the beautiful woman sitting next to you.

01:20 - 31.693 So thank you,

01:20 - 40.802 Joe, to all the elected officials here today.

01:20 - 43.605 And there are so, so many of you here today.

01:20 - 45.140 A few people I want to kind of mention,

01:20 - 47.108 that's my state senator, Jimmy Dillon.

01:20 - 48.610 Jimmy actually made the phone calls

01:20 - 50.912 when I first got into this race. Jimmy was a new senator.

01:20 - 55.684 And by the way, Jimmy is pronounced fidelity.

01:20 - 59.821 We know what we're talking about.

01:21 - 02.757 Mike Driscoll, my city councilman, my former state

01:21 - 04.159 rep, and Pat Gallagher,

01:21 - 07.062 Lisa Deeley, who was everywhere championing for our cause.

01:21 - 08.463 I mean, she didn't have an opponent.

01:21 - 10.699 She went to every single board meeting in Philadelphia

01:21 - 13.134 talking about the importance of this election cycle.

01:21 - 15.036 All of those people,

01:21 - 17.038 all of the world leaders that Congressman Brady

01:21 - 19.374 won't mentioned, several of them are in this room.

01:21 - 20.942 I come from Philadelphia.

01:21 - 22.577 I'm very, very proud that I come

01:21 - 24.079 out of the Democratic City Committee.

01:21 - 26.648 I'm proud to have represented Democratic City Committee.

01:21 - 28.917 I'm proud of the work that they do on a daily basis.

01:21 - 31.820 And I'm proud to call myself a Democratic City

01:21 - 36.057 Committee person from Philadelphia County.

01:21 - 37.893 Finally to my campaign staff.

01:21 - 39.928 No, not finally.

01:21 - 42.764 I forgot something, too.

01:21 - 44.099 My running mates,

01:21 - 48.003 Joe Beck, Matt Wolf, thank you for keeping me sane.

01:21 - 50.839 Thank you for keeping me sometimes insane.

01:21 - 52.707 All right.

01:21 - 55.010 We met during the course of a contested primary

01:21 - 59.614 and we came through the primary, the three of us, myself, Jill,

01:21 - 02.517 Matt and Tamika to me and I'll get to you in a second.

01:22 - 06.421 Once we got through that primary,

01:22 - 07.756 I can tell you right now,

01:22 - 10.859 I've spent 30 to 33 years talking about elected officials

01:22 - 12.661 and public officials in a courtroom.

01:22 - 14.029 And I know what it takes to be a judge,

01:22 - 16.031 and I know it takes to be a good judge.

01:22 - 16.765 And I can tell you,

01:22 - 18.733 I've always said it takes two qualities you look for,

01:22 - 22.203 and that's a good heart and a good head and Matt Wolf

01:22 - 26.942 your back and to make a lane they have good hearts

01:22 - 28.443 and they have good heads and they will be

01:22 - 30.445 excellent additions to our appellate courts.

01:22 - 31.947 So I want to thank you for.

01:22 - 40.322 Coming to meet.

01:22 - 42.223 But I especially want to hold a small,

01:22 - 44.793 small piece of my heart for to make a lane,

01:22 - 47.963 to make with my ride or die from day one.

01:22 - 51.232 I met her in 2013 when we ran for the 10th of a quarter

01:22 - 53.335 of the list and we were everywhere.

01:22 - 54.903 Together we became like brothers and sisters

01:22 - 55.804 when we were in the Court of Common

01:22 - 59.140 Pleas for six years, she was 601, I was 602.

01:23 - 00.942 Whenever there was a fight

01:23 - 02.177 in the courtroom, I could always count on

01:23 - 05.113 to make it a burst through the door with

01:23 - 10.952 with the shares.

01:23 - 12.253 So when I decided to run for

01:23 - 15.824 Supreme Court to make, I had run in 2021 and she lost

01:23 - 18.893 and she wasn't sure if she was going to do it again.

01:23 - 20.762 And she said to me, Since you're running, I'm

01:23 - 22.964 going to step up and run again. And

01:23 - 31.306 she never backed away from a challenge.

01:23 - 33.108 The first phone call I got was from Tamika

01:23 - 34.743 telling me she was going to run the second one

01:23 - 36.044 I got was from Ryan Boyer and said,

01:23 - 38.613 You better take her everywhere with you, Dan

01:23 - 40.248 Ryan. I took her everywhere with me.

01:23 - 43.351 Look where she went.

01:23 - 47.389 Tamika and I literally our ride or die everywhere we went.

01:23 - 48.790 People talked about my work ethic.

01:23 - 50.492 People talked about exactly what I did

01:23 - 52.961 and where I went and all of the things that I

01:23 - 54.496 every step of the way along with me

01:23 - 57.232 was to make a Elaine and she is authentic.

01:23 - 59.434 I don't care if you love her.

01:23 - 01.903 I don't care if you hate her, but you have to respect her

01:24 - 04.005 because she doesn't back away from a fight.

01:24 - 05.340 She doesn't back away from a challenge,

01:24 - 07.242 and she stays true to who she is.

01:24 - 08.176 And that's the quality

01:24 - 10.011 that's going to get her Jill back

01:24 - 12.280 and Matt Wolf to be excellent appellate court judges.

01:24 - 13.648 So make thank you for everything

01:24 - 21.456 to my

01:24 - 24.959 campaign staff who is here right up front.

01:24 - 26.594 Celeste.

01:24 - 29.264 Celeste and I met in 2019 when I was running

01:24 - 31.433 for the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

01:24 - 34.202 She showed me around the state, got me through 2019

01:24 - 36.304 and got me through this primary. So let's see.

01:24 - 37.839 I love you from the bottom of my heart,

01:24 - 45.313 and thank you for everything you did to get me here.

01:24 - 46.181 Aiden Levinson.

01:24 - 47.882 I met Aiden when he was a

01:24 - 49.451 I think you were about one third grade eight.

01:24 - 53.822 And Aidan was a high school savant kid who loved politics,

01:24 - 55.190 wanted to get involved in it.

01:24 - 57.125 Aiden actually stepped up, volunteered for my

01:24 - 01.062 campaign in 2019, put together all of our social media.

01:25 - 03.264 I'm feeling old because Aiden just graduated college

01:25 - 04.799 and now he's a first year law student.

01:25 - 06.568 But Aiden put together everything.

01:25 - 08.203 I want to thank Aiden from the bottom of my heart

01:25 - 10.238 for everything he did.

01:25 - 14.742 My two staffers

01:25 - 16.711 started off in the primary with Brian for yoga

01:25 - 19.180 and finished up with, as Tom described her,

01:25 - 22.450 the rookie The Year Hattie Spector.

01:25 - 23.818 These are two people that accompany

01:25 - 25.286 me all across the Pennsylvania.

01:25 - 27.489 They literally accompanied me for hundreds of miles,

01:25 - 30.825 thousands of miles all across the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania.

01:25 - 32.760 This Hattie around

01:25 - 35.263 Hattie did a great job.

01:25 - 38.333 I apologize for all those useless facts I gave you, but

01:25 - 42.570 if you really want to feel old, play paradise by the dashboard

01:25 - 44.072 lights by meatloaf and have pat.

01:25 - 46.307 How do you turn around and say who sings this song

01:25 - 51.846 on the by the way, is the best album of the 1973.

01:25 - 52.614 Well done.

01:25 - 59.387 Thank you for everything.

01:25 - 00.421 La Chateau

01:26 - 04.025 La is a force to be reckoned with in central Pennsylvania.

01:26 - 05.894 Laura is hooked on all of us.

01:26 - 08.763 In 2019, she handled all of our social media.

01:26 - 11.099 She's a fighter. She responds to everything.

01:26 - 13.501 Laura, you did a wonderful job on social media.

01:26 - 15.603 I couldn't have done it without you.

01:26 - 18.306 She was taking pictures and having people send pictures

01:26 - 22.143 of me in these crazy places, which I've never even heard of.

01:26 - 22.877 Clarion

01:26 - 26.714 and Laura, I want to thank you for running.

01:26 - 29.617 The social media program did a great job, and I mean it

01:26 - 36.391 from the bottom of my heart, but I saved the best for Leo.

01:26 - 39.694 Andrew Romano from Gabrielle from Rise Communications.

01:26 - 42.697 As Tom alluded to, this was an expensive campaign.

01:26 - 44.399 I don't know if you heard that

01:26 - 48.870 Andrea and Gabrielle were rise communications.

01:26 - 49.571 They were the ones who

01:26 - 52.440 raised our funds and they literally a beat

01:26 - 53.408 every bush

01:26 - 54.742 till they could come up with enough money

01:26 - 56.711 so we could compete in this election cycle.

01:26 - 58.313 Andrea, I want to thank you and Gabrielle

01:26 - 05.887 for all of the hard work you did.

01:27 - 08.089 So I saved the best for last the big three.

01:27 - 12.627 First of all, the two Philadelphia knife fighters.

01:27 - 15.830 When you go into a campaign and I don't mean to sound this

01:27 - 17.432 because I'm a military guy and I'm not going to say

01:27 - 19.534 it's going into a war because it's not war.

01:27 - 21.469 I mean, it's a campaign.

01:27 - 23.571 But things can sometimes get out of control.

01:27 - 25.206 Things can get nasty.

01:27 - 27.609 And when things get nasty during the course of a campaign,

01:27 - 28.843 you need somebody

01:27 - 31.579 that is literally going to bare their teeth,

01:27 - 34.349 who is going to snarl back and start literally

01:27 - 36.584 going on the attack for you to defend you.

01:27 - 40.521 And the two people that I that I relied on for

01:27 - 42.357 that were my two Philadelphia knight fighters.

01:27 - 55.570 And that was Maria Crawford and Billy Miller.

01:27 - 57.005 Some of the stuff we did, there's still a

01:27 - 58.373 statute of limitations on it,

01:27 - 01.242 so I'm going to remain silent.

01:28 - 04.178 But again, thank you for being in my corner.

01:28 - 05.179 Thank you for being there.

01:28 - 08.249 Thank you for being my friends.

01:28 - 15.023 And finally, Rahul Kohli.

01:28 - 18.359 So if you don't believe in divine intervention,

01:28 - 19.861 I just have to tell you,

01:28 - 22.063 divine intervention happened in the course of my campaign

01:28 - 23.164 because we got through the primary,

01:28 - 27.135 which was somewhat chaotic and somewhat crazy,

01:28 - 29.704 and we needed a new campaign manager

01:28 - 31.272 and we talked to a lot of people in there.

01:28 - 34.075 And then Billy and I sat in my office one day

01:28 - 37.545 and we got a resume and we got a couple of phone

01:28 - 39.847 calls made about this young kid named Rahul Kelly.

01:28 - 41.783 And he had run a bunch of campaigns

01:28 - 43.851 and he decided to come into the office.

01:28 - 48.856 And income's this young fella sitting right here and

01:28 - 53.661 preternatural calm, mean nothing flustered them.

01:28 - 55.330 I mean, during the course of a campaign,

01:28 - 56.597 like I said before, and things

01:28 - 00.401 get crazy, things get nasty, things get out of control.

01:29 - 01.369 And in the middle of it

01:29 - 03.571 all, like the eye of the storm set, Rahul Kohli

01:29 - 07.508 does not worry about it's not moving the needle.

01:29 - 09.744 He literally came into our campaign

01:29 - 13.247 and he steered the ship to victory.

01:29 - 16.017 I could not have thought of a better person to manage

01:29 - 17.652 that campaign, to manage the money,

01:29 - 21.356 to manage the media, to manage every aspect of the campaign.

01:29 - 24.125 Then Rahul Kohli When he jumped into that campaign

01:29 - 25.860 and he righted the ship

01:29 - 27.795 and he steered us to the safe harbor of victory.

01:29 - 28.930 So from the bottom of my heart,

01:29 - 30.565 you look for a client and you've got a friend.

01:29 - 39.340 Thank you, Rahul.

01:29 - 40.541 And finally,

01:29 - 43.378 Tom Duffy.

01:29 - 49.384 So Tom Duffy is a bit long winded.

01:29 - 51.018 Anybody pick that up?

01:29 - 54.655 So Tom's favorite line after about 30 minutes

01:29 - 56.924 of talking to you is if I'm repeating myself, it's

01:29 - 59.127 not that I have Alzheimer's, it's I'm Irish.

01:29 - 01.596 And he often repeats himself.

01:30 - 03.765 But Tom Duffy is kind of like a unicorn.

01:30 - 05.767 If you think about the Mount

01:30 - 07.668 Rushmore of American trial lawyers.

01:30 - 09.771 Tom Duffy's face is right up on that mountain.

01:30 - 10.772 He's probably

01:30 - 14.008 one of the top two three for trial lawyers in America.

01:30 - 16.377 His success is unparalleled.

01:30 - 18.146 If you're a lawyer in this room or you're lawyer

01:30 - 21.482 in Pennsylvania, everybody knows who Tom Duffy is.

01:30 - 23.684 When I would go around

01:30 - 26.053 at different parts of the state and I would talk about,

01:30 - 27.021 you know,

01:30 - 28.956 the law and I would talk about my legal background,

01:30 - 31.025 I would talk about different things.

01:30 - 33.060 If you're looking for an entree into different groups,

01:30 - 35.630 I would say, well, Tom Duffy is my campaign chair

01:30 - 38.666 and everybody would like, wow, Tom Duffy's your campaign chair.

01:30 - 40.968 Wow, how you get him to do that.

01:30 - 44.305 And I bribed him.

01:30 - 45.306 Tom told the story

01:30 - 47.041 about coming to my office in 2019

01:30 - 49.177 and agreeing to be my campaign chair.

01:30 - 51.279 But what he doesn't tell you is what he did behind the scenes.

01:30 - 53.881 You see Tom's success in a courtroom

01:30 - 55.650 is, as I mentioned, unparalleled.

01:30 - 58.586 It's almost legendary at this point, his successes.

01:30 - 01.022 But the things you don't know about Tom

01:31 - 03.391 are the phone calls he makes late at night.

01:31 - 04.592 The first thing he did when he got up here

01:31 - 06.194 was thank the workers in this room.

01:31 - 08.095 He thanked the workers, the people that set this up,

01:31 - 09.464 because that's who he is.

01:31 - 12.033 When you go over to his office to see him,

01:31 - 14.769 the security guards all know him by his first name.

01:31 - 16.737 The cleaning lady in the building at One

01:31 - 19.040 Liberty knows him by his first name.

01:31 - 20.608 He's one of those genuine people.

01:31 - 21.742 It's almost like a unicorn

01:31 - 24.479 because he's so successful, he's so accessible,

01:31 - 26.481 and he's so I'm just going to say it.

01:31 - 27.815 He's so nice.

01:31 - 30.084 There's not a thing he won't do for anybody.

01:31 - 31.953 And that includes making the tough phone calls

01:31 - 34.922 that need to be made, literally running everything down

01:31 - 37.024 that needed to be run down in our campaign.

01:31 - 38.593 And Tom,

01:31 - 40.561 Seamus and I and Gary have called you

01:31 - 42.864 an honorary Duffy for quite some time,

01:31 - 44.899 but I really mean it from the bottom of my heart.

01:31 - 54.408 You're now an honorary McCaffrey, so

01:31 - 59.914 the last group I have to thank

01:31 - 02.083 before we hit the open bar

01:32 - 06.320 is my mom and dad.

01:32 - 08.356 I'm trying to get through this without getting choked up, but

01:32 - 11.359 everybody looks at my success.

01:32 - 13.127 And you've heard a lot about Dad McCaffrey tonight.

01:32 - 14.896 But Dana McCaffrey is only

01:32 - 17.398 one kind of piece of that McCaffrey puzzle.

01:32 - 20.401 I want everybody to understand a couple of things.

01:32 - 22.570 Public service. It's about who we are.

01:32 - 23.771 But I think everybody needs

01:32 - 26.040 to understand that I'm the youngest of seven.

01:32 - 30.211 My sister Molly is here tonight with her husband Vinny.

01:32 - 31.546 Molly and Vinny met in high school,

01:32 - 32.647 Cardinal Doherty High School.

01:32 - 35.182 They've been married for over 50 years.

01:32 - 37.018 When he went to Villanova,

01:32 - 39.420 Molly and him got married at the age of 18, 19.

01:32 - 41.589 She raised five wonderful kids.

01:32 - 43.291 Every one of them has a college degree.

01:32 - 43.858 Two of them are

01:32 - 46.994 graduates of the Naval Academy serving in the Marine Corps

01:32 - 49.530 and serving United States Naval Academy.

01:32 - 51.399 My nephew, Kevin, a graduate of the Naval Academy,

01:32 - 54.168 is here right now, married at 19.

01:32 - 54.602 My sister

01:32 - 57.638 Molly went back to school at night, got a degree, and

01:32 - 01.075 was also a Catholic school teacher for over 25 years.

01:33 - 04.045 That's the work ethic that we keep talking about,

01:33 - 06.013 about Dad, McCaffrey,

01:33 - 08.616 my brother Seamus, you've all heard his story.

01:33 - 10.618 If you haven't heard stories, Seamus, the story yet.

01:33 - 12.019 When we're done, ask him.

01:33 - 16.257 He loves talking about his favorite subject.

01:33 - 17.792 I'll be happy to tell you all about it.

01:33 - 22.196 But Seamus graduated back pretty high school

01:33 - 24.699 and we said Father, Judge and was promoted to Seamus

01:33 - 30.237 in 1968 and he joined the Marine Corps

01:33 - 32.273 at the height of the Vietnam era.

01:33 - 34.976 He came home in 1970, joined the police department,

01:33 - 37.478 was married, raised three wonderful sons, all of whom

01:33 - 39.547 have a college degree, all of them in law enforcement,

01:33 - 41.549 one with the Pennsylvania attorney general,

01:33 - 45.353 one with the FBI, and one is a Philadelphia police detective.

01:33 - 48.189 Seamus went back to school, got his degree

01:33 - 50.925 at LaSalle at night while a police officer raising

01:33 - 52.093 three children.

01:33 - 54.362 He then got a master's degree, went to law school,

01:33 - 56.063 Philadelphia municipal court.

01:33 - 57.231 He's a bit of a legend.

01:33 - 59.133 And when this campaign started getting a little bit

01:33 - 01.268 nasty and people started to talk about,

01:34 - 03.070 you know, the commercials and a lot of other stuff

01:34 - 04.705 that was running, I can't tell you how many people

01:34 - 05.473 came out of the woodwork.

01:34 - 06.007 And the first thing

01:34 - 06.540 they said to me

01:34 - 08.609 is, we weren't supporting you before, but

01:34 - 10.378 we didn't know you were Seamus the brother.

01:34 - 19.553 Now we're supporting you, my brother, Gary.

01:34 - 21.222 Gary.

01:34 - 23.491 First North family to graduate college

01:34 - 25.893 where Seamus was famous, beat you to it.

01:34 - 28.295 Gary was a star athlete,

01:34 - 30.064 graduate of father, judge, high school.

01:34 - 30.831 By the way,

01:34 - 33.234 all the things I said about Joe Ashdown, how great he was,

01:34 - 35.736 I did not say those things because he is a graduate

01:34 - 37.772 of the finest Catholic high school in America.

01:34 - 43.310 Father, Judge.

01:34 - 44.545 But my brother Gary

01:34 - 49.116 Same went to college, owns his own business,

01:34 - 52.953 raised a wonderful family, every one of whom has a college

01:34 - 53.487 degree.

01:34 - 54.855 He's been married to his wonderful wife,

01:34 - 56.824 Mary Ellen, for over 40 years.

01:34 - 58.926 He's a of his community, a youth sports coach.

01:34 - 01.896 He is a deacon in his church.

01:35 - 03.097 He is wonderfully active.

01:35 - 05.566 And I couldn't be prouder of all of my brothers and sisters.

01:35 - 09.470 My sister, Colleen, at the age of 18, became a lab technician.

01:35 - 11.639 She married the love of her life.

01:35 - 16.677 Jay Quinn, the authentic Irishman, the life of any party.

01:35 - 19.213 Colleen became a lab technician at 18,

01:35 - 20.648 raised three wonderful daughters,

01:35 - 22.349 all of whom have a college degree again,

01:35 - 24.452 went back to night, school at night,

01:35 - 26.387 became a nurse, a master's degree,

01:35 - 27.755 worked for years at Germantown

01:35 - 29.490 Hospital and University of Pennsylvania.

01:35 - 30.391 As a nurse,

01:35 - 33.394 she decided to retire as a school nurse for the school

01:35 - 34.862 district of Philadelphia.

01:35 - 36.897 And my sister, Kathleen, closest in age

01:35 - 39.767 with her husband Joe Done.

01:35 - 43.170 Kathleen, at the age of 18 started working for SEPTA.

01:35 - 46.273 45 years later, she's still working for

01:35 - 51.746 seven.

01:35 - 52.279 That's right.

01:35 - 54.882 She's the one responsible.

01:35 - 59.720 Every time your train or bus is late.

01:35 - 02.623 I got a lot of positive stories about this job.

01:36 - 04.925 They call in my office.

01:36 - 06.594 All right, Kathleen, this is about me, not you.

01:36 - 19.173 Okay?

01:36 - 22.576 So my mom and dad's picture is up here

01:36 - 24.812 if you want to get a chance to look at it.

01:36 - 26.881 The picture that you're looking at in that photograph

01:36 - 29.683 is my mom and dad's wedding photograph.

01:36 - 30.885 My dad was 17.

01:36 - 32.453 My mom was 16, I think.

01:36 - 32.920 Right

01:36 - 36.290 18, 17, something like that.

01:36 - 38.926 My mom and dad are Catholics from Irish, from Belfast,

01:36 - 40.227 Northern Ireland.

01:36 - 41.829 And for those of you who don't know anything

01:36 - 43.430 about Northern Ireland,

01:36 - 45.266 the Catholics and Protestants up there have been having

01:36 - 47.868 a little bit of a disagreement for going on 600 years.

01:36 - 50.638 They're going to resolve it any day now.

01:36 - 52.373 Okay.

01:36 - 53.741 But I tell the story of my mom and dad

01:36 - 54.341 because they married

01:36 - 56.811 at the age of 16, 17 or 18, whatever it was.

01:36 - 58.612 And by the time they were 21,

01:36 - 00.648 they had three young children, my sister Molly,

01:37 - 04.018 my brother Seamus, and my brother Noel, and my father as a

01:37 - 05.052 as a boxer,

01:37 - 07.822 professional boxer, and became an All-Ireland champion.

01:37 - 10.724 And he was given an opportunity to work in a printing company

01:37 - 13.260 by a guy who was a Protestant, owned a printing company.

01:37 - 16.530 When my dad was 21, my father was beaten into a coma

01:37 - 18.966 with a wooden mallet by four of his coworkers,

01:37 - 21.168 a Protestant sectarian violence

01:37 - 23.604 and when he woke up, he was fired from his job for fighting

01:37 - 26.240 and his boxing career was over.

01:37 - 28.142 And he looked at my mother

01:37 - 29.176 and he looked at

01:37 - 30.578 the three young children, and he said,

01:37 - 33.047 I need something better for my kids.

01:37 - 35.516 I need an opportunity for my kids to succeed.

01:37 - 38.619 And I need to do what so many other Irish Catholics

01:37 - 40.521 have done in the past, which is emigrate

01:37 - 41.455 and find a better life.

01:37 - 43.591 So my dad got on a boat.

01:37 - 46.961 My dad came to America and made a life for us here in America.

01:37 - 50.965 My parents really came to this country looking for opportunity

01:37 - 52.900 they were looking for freedom and they were looking

01:37 - 54.935 for liberty, which is a cliche statement.

01:37 - 57.538 But when you look at our family,

01:37 - 01.442 what I really think everybody in this room needs to remembers.

01:38 - 07.381 What you're really looking at is right there.

01:38 - 10.184 They came here looking for the American dream

01:38 - 29.403 and they found it.

01:38 - 31.438 So to steal a line from my good friend

01:38 - 36.243 Neil Makhija, you see, Seamus and I standing up here

01:38 - 38.545 as the Chief Justice just mentioned,

01:38 - 41.015 what you all just witnessed was a piece of American history.

01:38 - 44.251 American history where the first two brothers

01:38 - 54.061 ever to serve in a high court.

01:38 - 56.363 But as I mentioned, I did not run to make history.

01:38 - 57.431 I ran and make a difference.

01:38 - 00.367 Here you go, Neil, at your line.

01:39 - 01.302 Neil McKeague

01:39 - 03.837 is also the son of immigrants and he said that last week

01:39 - 06.273 and it got me thinking about my remarks.

01:39 - 08.776 It kind of got me thinking about my judicial philosophy.

01:39 - 09.543 And it's pretty simple.

01:39 - 11.445 I'm not somebody to overthink things.

01:39 - 13.047 And when I think of my judicial philosophy,

01:39 - 14.982 I think what Justice Anthony Kennedy said

01:39 - 16.917 when he's asked about it, and he said,

01:39 - 19.353 when Americans talk about the rule of law,

01:39 - 22.656 we assume that we are talking about a law or a body of law

01:39 - 25.359 that promotes freedom,

01:39 - 28.262 that promotes justice, and that promotes equality

01:39 - 30.564 in its core.

01:39 - 33.600 That's why I became a lawyer, and that's why standing here

01:39 - 38.405 before you today, because freedom, justice and equality,

01:39 - 40.975 those are the promises that are set forth

01:39 - 43.177 in our nation's founding documents.

01:39 - 44.345 And it is the law

01:39 - 46.981 that guarantees that those promises will be kept.

01:39 - 52.720 I am the 179th person to wear this little sash.

01:39 - 54.722 I'm not the first. I won't be the last.

01:39 - 57.024 But I can promise everybody in this room

01:39 - 02.162 that every single opportunity I have to hear a case,

01:40 - 05.299 those three qualities will be ringing in my ears.

01:40 - 08.002 The opportunity to promote justice,

01:40 - 12.306 to promote freedom, and to promote equality.

01:40 - 13.941 I owe it to my parents who came here

01:40 - 16.343 looking for freedom, justice and equality.

01:40 - 19.880 I owe it to you and I owe it to every Pennsylvanian to do that.

01:40 - 22.316 And I will do my duty every single day.

01:40 - 24.718 So thank you all for coming.

01:40 - 26.220 God bless you all.

01:40 - 55.182 God bless America.

01:40 - 57.251 Well, we're coming round the bend here

01:40 - 59.653 toward the end.

01:40 - 03.857 It's a tradition on our court when we welcome a new justice

01:41 - 07.294 for each of the justices to have the opportunity

01:41 - 10.864 to provide a few brief remarks

01:41 - 14.601 and to welcome our our new justice.

01:41 - 17.905 Dan McCaffrey Before I turn the microphone

01:41 - 20.941 over to Justice Christine Donahue,

01:41 - 25.012 let me just say, Dan, an incredibly hard working

01:41 - 30.717 and hard driving individual, you're very, very impressive.

01:41 - 33.887 And your resumé is just tremendous.

01:41 - 36.123 You mentioned in your remarks

01:41 - 39.593 that Neil Marrow was the person who kept your ego in check.

01:41 - 49.136 My question is, is that now job?

01:41 - 54.475 You have an amazing ability to remember and recite names.

01:41 - 56.977 I don't think I have ever heard anyone

01:41 - 59.446 have the recall that you have.

01:41 - 01.548 And I find that very impressive.

01:42 - 04.051 And I know it's hard for you to get

01:42 - 05.819 and speak in front of people.

01:42 - 10.991 And I, I want to mention I have passed this advice

01:42 - 14.428 on to some of our newer justices in previous years.

01:42 - 19.967 If you are interested, we make assertiveness training

01:42 - 25.906 and confidence building available to our new justices.

01:42 - 34.982 Welcome to the court, Justice Donahue.

01:42 - 38.852 Well, again, after 15 months,

01:42 - 43.056 we are now a Supreme Court that. Is fully constituted.

01:42 - 47.127 And I can tell you that I am thrilled that you, Dan.

01:42 - 50.130 Are the person filling that seven seat.

01:42 - 54.001 And the reason for that is a very serious one

01:42 - 57.738 not to go off script here.

01:42 - 02.342 But given your background and your experience.

01:43 - 04.711 And your intellect.

01:43 - 05.379 I know.

01:43 - 07.848 That you will. Immediately.

01:43 - 10.017 Absorb the magnitude

01:43 - 14.588 of the responsibility that comes with this job and more.

01:43 - 16.023 Importantly.

01:43 - 19.259 The magnitude of the privilege we.

01:43 - 19.927 Have.

01:43 - 22.963 As justices of this court to serve the citizens

01:43 - 23.864 of the Commonwealth.

01:43 - 25.499 You and

01:43 - 28.769 I really have never had our paths cross.

01:43 - 33.040 For any long period of time in our careers.

01:43 - 38.512 But I know as much about you as I know about.

01:43 - 39.513 Any of my.

01:43 - 43.250 Colleagues on this court, because in 2007,

01:43 - 47.221 I was a candidate for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

01:43 - 51.391 And your brother Seamus was a candidate for the Supreme Court.

01:43 - 52.993 And so almost a.

01:43 - 54.328 Full year

01:43 - 57.464 I heard everything that there was to know about your.

01:43 - 59.600 Family.

01:43 - 03.070 I mean, everything.

01:44 - 05.272 But what I most know about it.

01:44 - 07.107 Is that it was loving

01:44 - 11.311 and encouraging and a family that every American would be.

01:44 - 13.313 Proud to be a member. Of.

01:44 - 14.081 And so.

01:44 - 16.149 I know based upon.

01:44 - 18.986 That information about your family,

01:44 - 22.289 that you will be a true asset.

01:44 - 23.724 This Court. And.

01:44 - 27.094 What I hope for is not only that I get to know you.

01:44 - 30.330 But that ultimately that we can be friends.

01:44 - 32.299 And so welcome.

01:44 - 39.940 Justice McCaffery.

01:44 - 41.275 Justice Kevin Daugherty,

01:44 - 43.343 this is

01:44 - 47.981 Dan McCarthy.

01:44 - 50.784 Let me begin first, with all due respect, Father.

01:44 - 53.587 As an Irish Catholic American myself,

01:44 - 57.124 born and raised in Philadelphia, I have the greatest respect

01:44 - 59.226 for Father, Judge and Cardinal Dockerty.

01:45 - 02.329 But with all due respect, none of you

01:45 - 05.165 could get into Bishop Neumann in South Philadelphia.

01:45 - 07.601 That's right.

01:45 - 09.236 Because it was an all girls school, wasn't it?

01:45 - 14.608 Oh, and he just said

01:45 - 17.244 he was a liberal.

01:45 - 22.382 This is what I have to look forward to.

01:45 - 26.820 We've all heard about

01:45 - 29.189 Danny's intellect and his legal ability.

01:45 - 32.726 I want to share with you the real Danny McCaffrey

01:45 - 35.829 that has just put on a robe to become a member of this court.

01:45 - 39.966 Justice Donahue has said she just criss crossed her path.

01:45 - 44.237 Well, my path with Danny has been the same path

01:45 - 46.073 for the last 30 some years,

01:45 - 48.875 like Bill Maher.

01:45 - 51.178 I'm the class of 1990 in the Philadelphia

01:45 - 52.779 District Attorney's office.

01:45 - 55.916 And we kind of merged, not the class of 1991.

01:45 - 59.353 And I see many of our former colleagues here.

01:46 - 03.223 It was in that time when in our nation,

01:46 - 07.260 beginning of our legal career, that we were learning

01:46 - 09.062 and developing.

01:46 - 11.798 But more than anything, we were bonding.

01:46 - 14.434 And as a result, we have had lifelong friendships

01:46 - 17.371 that have lasted the decades.

01:46 - 20.507 Danny and I met in that office as well.

01:46 - 22.709 We sat behind each other. We worked each other,

01:46 - 25.112 and we stepped through each other's path.

01:46 - 26.947 When I was in a unit, he would come

01:46 - 28.815 because I was a little older than he.

01:46 - 29.716 And ultimately,

01:46 - 32.285 our paths crossed from the attorney's office,

01:46 - 33.754 ultimately to the bench

01:46 - 36.690 court of Common Pleas.

01:46 - 39.760 And it's interesting that I began my legal career with you,

01:46 - 42.829 and I'm looking forward to ending our legal career

01:46 - 46.199 in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court together.

01:46 - 48.101 It's very interesting that you said you just did

01:46 - 49.836 an arduous campaign.

01:46 - 53.240 And I understand the significance of that campaign.

01:46 - 56.143 You travel across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania

01:46 - 57.110 and when you come

01:46 - 00.747 from the city of Philadelphia, who is a South Philadelphia boy.

01:47 - 02.582 I didn't know where the Northeast was

01:47 - 06.153 until Seamus told me where I was going to buy my house in 1999.

01:47 - 11.191 Seriously, we traveled and you got to meet so many people,

01:47 - 14.327 and Danny and I are much more alike

01:47 - 16.463 compared to our older brothers.

01:47 - 20.400 And he and I were not so much interested in the politics

01:47 - 22.202 as we were in interested in meeting people.

01:47 - 23.303 And I think he shared

01:47 - 26.273 and expressed that feeling extremely well.

01:47 - 28.608 When I look around this room.

01:47 - 32.312 I, too, as Dan and I'm sure it's just the start of you and it's

01:47 - 34.314 just a speck. We're here.

01:47 - 36.716 We would tell you we see the very same faces

01:47 - 40.320 that were there beside us and stood with us.

01:47 - 41.788 And we have some of the new faces

01:47 - 42.956 that we're going to get to know you.

01:47 - 44.491 But I want to

01:47 - 47.294 share with you that it is a wonderful feeling

01:47 - 50.864 to come in here and feel as if you belong

01:47 - 53.500 when they tell you, Welcome to Philadelphia.

01:47 - 55.902 This is truly

01:47 - 59.439 what the big city, little neighborhood feels like.

01:48 - 02.476 And that, Danny, is a blessing because

01:48 - 04.044 you brought us all together.

01:48 - 05.979 You have heard tremendous stories

01:48 - 09.082 about the McCarthy family, and you heard about Mr.

01:48 - 09.916 or Mrs. McCarthy.

01:48 - 11.718 When I tell you are two of the sweetest souls

01:48 - 13.019 that walk the earth,

01:48 - 15.655 truly, truly understand where the family came from.

01:48 - 18.859 But I also, during my cross of

01:48 - 22.462 with my might, I should say my career journey with Dan,

01:48 - 24.631 I've also been able to walk a separate path,

01:48 - 27.033 and that's raising our families together in the very same

01:48 - 29.536 parish and our children growing up together.

01:48 - 33.707 And I've watched him raise his two beautiful daughters.

01:48 - 35.242 I don't know, Maria,

01:48 - 38.912 you probably was, what, six three when I met.

01:48 - 41.581 Mattie Madison. How old were you? About

01:48 - 44.885 ten. Madison was three.

01:48 - 47.153 Maria wasn't born. But go ahead. You're right.

01:48 - 50.390 I remember, I remember when your mother is pregnant with you.

01:48 - 53.059 Yet that being said, now,

01:48 - 56.196 not only generationally have our kids grown together,

01:48 - 59.599 we're now watching Dan's grandkids grow up.

01:48 - 02.502 And interestingly, she marries a wonderful man

01:49 - 04.738 from the neighborhood who's a phenomenal father.

01:49 - 07.574 And it's just it just glues

01:49 - 13.547 what has been said about Dan and about us in general.

01:49 - 15.549 Dan, let me share something with you.

01:49 - 19.686 You've just been made part of a perfect team,

01:49 - 23.490 and you and I have walked along side

01:49 - 26.159 by side for a long time together as colleagues

01:49 - 29.462 and as family members and friends of families.

01:49 - 32.432 Let me tell you something.

01:49 - 33.166 Good company.

01:49 - 34.801 You are on a journey,

01:49 - 37.737 you know, really makes the journey seem shorter.

01:49 - 40.373 And when I sit back and think

01:49 - 43.843 that just the start of your work and I at the end of this year

01:49 - 47.380 have to continue a journey when we stand for retention

01:49 - 50.817 and to think that ten years have already passed,

01:49 - 54.854 let me tell you, it's going to be a blink of an eye.

01:49 - 58.191 Today we sit and we enjoy.

01:49 - 01.194 Tomorrow we will work.

01:50 - 04.397 But when you realize that there's going to be a decade

01:50 - 07.334 that has passed, I just hope, God willing,

01:50 - 10.003 that we have the continued health,

01:50 - 11.871 that we have the continued friendship,

01:50 - 14.174 and we have the continued collegiality

01:50 - 17.510 that I have experienced throughout the chief justices

01:50 - 20.280 and epitomized by our current chief justice.

01:50 - 23.283 You have just walked into a family.

01:50 - 25.085 You have walked into a court.

01:50 - 25.952 And you have walked

01:50 - 29.756 into a vocation in which we take our job seriously.

01:50 - 33.059 But we truly learn to enjoy each other.

01:50 - 35.929 So what I'm saying is congratulation

01:50 - 37.297 from the bottom of my heart.

01:50 - 39.132 I'm glad to have you with us.

01:50 - 41.201 It's really good to have another Philadelphian.

01:50 - 48.675 If I'm going to be a candid.

01:50 - 51.211 And let me and let me just follow up.

01:50 - 54.147 As your parents have taught me, mazel tov.

01:50 - 59.185 Justice Sally Mundy.

01:50 - 01.121 Dan, welcome to the court.

01:51 - 02.088 It's been

01:51 - 05.392 too long for this seat to be vacant,

01:51 - 07.494 and I am so happy to have you fill it.

01:51 - 10.830 And with your addition on the court,

01:51 - 15.135 we have a really important

01:51 - 19.406 role that we can

01:51 - 20.940 pursue

01:51 - 23.143 and it's going to take some hard work

01:51 - 24.844 and we're particularly going to

01:51 - 26.546 have to work on Justice Roberts.

01:51 - 29.783 And but I think

01:51 - 34.454 but I think with you on the court,

01:51 - 38.224 we can perhaps get majority support

01:51 - 41.428 on this court, as alluded to by Joe

01:51 - 44.664 Messer for the Eagles

01:51 - 49.836 and the Fliers and the Phillies.

01:51 - 54.874 Finally,

01:51 - 59.512 let me offer my defense and the introduction.

01:51 - 01.548 Justice Roberts and.

01:52 - 04.718 I thought I wasn't going to be the new guy anymore,

01:52 - 07.921 but apparently I'm still the new guy.

01:52 - 13.126 I'm the last justice.

01:52 - 16.229 Standing between everybody and famous is open bar.

01:52 - 20.400 So let me try to keep my comments as briefly as I can.

01:52 - 24.604 Justice McCaffery About four years ago,

01:52 - 26.106 we attended a similar

01:52 - 29.008 celebration, and I actually have witnesses judged

01:52 - 31.111 to be all Judge WebLogic.

01:52 - 34.748 I won't get into what that conversation was that we have.

01:52 - 36.549 You and I both know what it has, but I don't think

01:52 - 38.585 either of us imagined we'd be sitting here today.

01:52 - 41.821 But, you know, I.

01:52 - 44.023 I want people to know that I've known Dan

01:52 - 45.458 probably just about four years.

01:52 - 47.160 I'm not going to say we know each other really well.

01:52 - 49.662 I think we're continuing on that journey together.

01:52 - 51.564 But I think we have for formed a friendship.

01:52 - 54.734 And the one thing that I've been very impressed with Dan about

01:52 - 59.672 is, you know, in an era and a time when it seems like

01:53 - 04.010 people try to find the things that divide us, the issues

01:53 - 07.547 that we can't agree to and focus on that and emphasize that.

01:53 - 10.884 Whenever I have a conversation with Dan,

01:53 - 14.420 it's always about what we agree on, what values

01:53 - 16.422 we share in common, getting to know each other,

01:53 - 19.359 the questions that he asks about my father serving

01:53 - 21.528 in the state police, my grandfather

01:53 - 23.830 serving in the Philadelphia Police Department.

01:53 - 26.599 And he asks a lot of questions and asks a lot of questions

01:53 - 28.234 just to get to know you. And.

01:53 - 31.404 And that's a characteristic we don't see a lot in people

01:53 - 33.573 these days. And Dan has that.

01:53 - 36.276 And and I think it's probably is something that your parents

01:53 - 37.177 instilled in you

01:53 - 39.813 at an early age to take a true interest in people.

01:53 - 42.148 And and that's impressed me.

01:53 - 45.785 And it's something that's hopefully rubbing off on me.

01:53 - 49.122 You know, Dan, there's there's there's cliches in the law.

01:53 - 53.059 One of the cliches that I learned

01:53 - 56.462 when I came on to the Commonwealth Court

01:53 - 00.433 was that and I'm modifying it for this court.

01:54 - 04.671 It's that four justices make a majority.

01:54 - 07.173 A majority makes a court.

01:54 - 09.642 I don't agree with that.

01:54 - 12.312 Under the Pennsylvania Constitution, seven

01:54 - 15.448 justices make the Supreme court of Pennsylvania.

01:54 - 19.652 And now, Dan, with your addition to this court,

01:54 - 22.388 we are the four Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

01:54 - 25.124 And your voice

01:54 - 31.598 your voice is going to be a very important voice

01:54 - 33.933 as we move forward and address some very sticky issues

01:54 - 36.302 coming forward, coming in front of us.

01:54 - 38.238 Your friendship is going to be very valuable.

01:54 - 40.473 Your collegiality is going to be very valuable.

01:54 - 42.909 And like my other colleagues on this court,

01:54 - 45.478 I welcome you with open arms and open friendship.

01:54 - 53.119 Thank you.

01:54 - 55.388 River. Kate Brown, please give us the benediction.

01:54 - 57.457 I forgot.

01:55 - 03.830 This one.

01:55 - 09.168 Longer.

01:55 - 12.372 I'm back.

01:55 - 14.307 Two things, actually.

01:55 - 16.409 Just really one thing.

01:55 - 18.211 When I was kind of making my remarks,

01:55 - 20.847 I had one piece of paper that was out of

01:55 - 21.981 kind of whack.

01:55 - 25.385 And I forgot to mention the most important people in my life.

01:55 - 30.556 My daughters are here, married in Madison.

01:55 - 34.761 Kevin just talked about them a little bit.

01:55 - 35.495 Thank you.

01:55 - 38.231 I am the man I am because you are the women.

01:55 - 39.265 You are.

01:55 - 42.168 Thank you for basically making me a better father.

01:55 - 44.304 Making me a better person and making me a better man.

01:55 - 48.908 If God himself had said to me to pick two people in the world

01:55 - 50.743 that you want a father, you want to be the father of

01:55 - 52.178 it would be you too.

01:55 - 54.247 You mean the world to me.

01:55 - 56.215 Madison and married.

01:55 - 58.751 And thank you, Steve, for being the father

01:55 - 01.020 you are to my grandsons and the husband, to my daughter,

01:56 - 02.855 and finally to Sam

01:56 - 05.591 during the course of that campaign.

01:56 - 08.995 Sam is the most private person in the world.

01:56 - 10.596 When you got made an issue,

01:56 - 12.799 I know you were squirming and I know you're squirming

01:56 - 14.834 right now that I'm even mentioning you.

01:56 - 16.602 But thank you for doing everything you've done

01:56 - 18.805 for the last 20 years for me.

01:56 - 21.374 Thank you for being there, having my back

01:56 - 23.643 and really being my ride or die and when I'm not around.

01:56 - 34.220 Thank you for taking to make his phone calls.

01:56 - 36.222 Dad, I'm glad you did that, because

01:56 - 39.392 I was going to give you a job which is justice under God.

01:56 - 43.329 If you didn't think the most important people in your life.

01:56 - 46.966 I have something serious to say to you as a man and you could

01:56 - 49.535 look me in the eyes day and I will look you in the eyes.

01:56 - 52.538 You are a good Catholic.

01:56 - 56.609 There have been people doubting that you are a servant leader

01:56 - 00.213 of Christ, and I'm proud that you're part of our church.

01:57 - 04.050 And I'm proud that are a graduate of father judge.

01:57 - 07.620 And I'm proud that our friendship for 30 years

01:57 - 10.023 you stood by me and I stood by you.

01:57 - 21.367 Don't ever forget that you a good Catholic, like all

01:57 - 24.637 religions, like our politics

01:57 - 28.674 politics and all affiliations, there's all different models.

01:57 - 32.912 There's this mirror in my room I look at every morning,

01:57 - 36.949 and it's a note from God and it says, Just love everyone

01:57 - 40.086 and I'll sort out the rest later.

01:57 - 42.355 My friends, that's a servant church.

01:57 - 44.490 That's a church that belongs to.

01:57 - 48.361 He has served so many people in so many different ways,

01:57 - 51.397 regardless of what they are, who they are.

01:57 - 53.132 And that's what Jesus would do.

01:57 - 54.834 So, Dan, you

01:57 - 57.770 and for this court, this wonderful court,

01:57 - 59.972 you will continue to be in my prayers.

01:57 - 02.508 So in the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

01:58 - 05.711 Almighty God, we give you blessings for this day.

01:58 - 06.612 And all those people

01:58 - 10.383 who made it happen, we give you thanks for our court

01:58 - 13.352 and continue to bless them as they make decisions

01:58 - 16.622 under the constitutions of the State of Pennsylvania.

01:58 - 21.494 Almighty God, we also ask you to bless the Pittsburgh Steelers

01:58 - 25.331 and Philadelphia Eagles who play in the playoffs

01:58 - 26.466 this weekend

01:58 - 36.742 in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit.

01:58 - 39.979 Please rise for the retiring of the colors

01:58 - 42.181 by the Pennsylvania State Police ceremonial. Unit

01:58 - 46.953 before

01:58 - 31.924 it completes.

02:00 - 37.129 I would ask

02:00 - 37.830 you all please

02:00 - 41.100 remain standing while the judges of the Commonwealth Court

02:00 - 52.138 superior Court and the Justices of the Supreme Court retire.

02:01 - 56.709 The ceremonial

02:01 - 29.542 session is adjourned.