CHAMBERS OF JUSTICE SAMUEL A. ALITO, JR.
Supreme Court of the United States
Washington, D. C. 20543

March 9, 2011

Honorable Randy J. Holland
Associate Justice
Supreme Court of Delaware
34 The Circle
Georgetown, DE 19947

Dear Randy:

I very much regret that I cannot be present in Wilmington on March 16 when you will receive the American Judicature Society’s Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial Excellence, but I did not want to allow the occasion to pass without extending my sincere congratulations for this great honor. Your work, both on and off the bench, is well known and highly esteemed by state and federal judges and by practitioners throughout the country, and I am not at all surprised that the excellent selection panel chose you as this year’s honoree. They could not have made a better decision.

Before we first met, I had heard my Third Circuit colleagues from Delaware sing your praises, and whenever my work required me to analyze a question of Delaware law (or, for that matter, any other legal question) I was always pleased when I was able to turn to one of your opinions for help. Later, it was a pleasure to get to know you in person through our service on the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, where your broad knowledge of appellate practice was of great assistance. And most recently, I have enjoyed the opportunity to see you in connection with events sponsored by the American Inns of Court, for which you have done superb work.

During my Third Circuit days, I came to have a very high appreciation of the quality of the Delaware judiciary, which is surely one of the very best in the nation, and I have always thought that you exemplified the finest characteristics of your state’s bench, fairness, scholarship, level-headedness and a dedication to the well-being of the community.

Congratulations again on your receipt of the Opperman Award, a high and well-deserved honor named for a great friend of the American judiciary.

Warm regards,
Sam