Although he is best known for hearing cases of celebrities, such as Robert de Niro, Jeff Koons and Janet Jackson, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Rolando Acosta’s most important cases are not with well-known people. A few days ago, Acosta ruled in favor of José Gomez, an undocumented immigrant who became paraplegic due to an accident at work. The company that hired Gomez did not want to compensate him.
Despite refusing to be interviewed for years, Acosta, chosen as judge of the year by the National Association of Hispanic Judges in 2004, agreed to speak with El Diario/La Prensa about his work and Latino representation in the city’s justice system.
El Diario/La Prensa: You are the first and only Dominican-American judge to be elected to the Supreme Court. Don’t you think there is little representation of that community in the justice system?
Rolando Acosta: Yes, it’s a shame. I am the first, and I wish I weren’t the only one. We are talking about a young community. For example, the Puerto Rican community has many more judges, although I would still say that there are not enough. Many people have the impression that a judge should be an Anglo-Saxon type, usually a man with gray hair. That’s in the past now.
EDLP: Do you think the justice system in the city is sufficiently diverse?
RA: I think that we should support a plan to give way to a more diverse system. These days, there are not enough Latinos in the justice system, there aren’t enough Latinos in general. What is the right number? It is the number that is representative of the population. We Latinos have to be in Wall Street, in the District Attorney’s office, the governor’s office, the mayor’s office. We have to be involved in all aspects of society, not just in the places where politicians think we should be.
EDLP: How can the representation be improved?
RA: In the Bronx, where there is such a large population of Latinos, we have achieved a higher number of Latino judges in the civil courts, where judges are elected. (In the criminal courts, they are appointed). In Manhattan, we still have not achieved the numbers that I believe are necessary based on the population of the borough.
EDLP: Has your ruling in favor of José Gomez created problems for you, since the topic of immigration is so provocative these days?
RA: Truthfully, no. Although I won’t say that it was an easy case. Based on the facts that I had, my obligation was to find justice, not to make a decision based on whether you like someone or not. It is important to have a judicial branch that is totally independent of political positions.
EDLP: But your decision is in the heart of a larger debate about the rights of immigrants, independent of whether they are documented or not. This gives it a political impact.
RA: There are always criticisms of the decisions that judges make. However, we judges cannot give our opinions about the decisions or defend ourselves from the criticism. What I believe is written in the ruling.
EDLP: Latinos are the worst represented group in the juries deciding criminal and civil cases in the Manhattan courts, according to a recent study by Citizen Action, an organization in Albany. What has been your experience?
RA: The composition of the jury plays a very important role in achieving justice. The judicial branch has to work harder to ensure that juries are representative of the community. It is a sacred obligation. I see it every day. I see a Latino defendant struggling with English in front of an all-white jury. Sometimes the lack of diversity is also due to social class. To me, that’s not good. That doesn’t create the legitimacy necessary to dispense justice with quality.
