US Supreme Court Justice Gets Public Service Award from Community College of Philadelphia

By Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia got a rare visit today from a sitting US Supreme Court justice. Judge Samuel Alito was in town to receive an award from the Community College of Philadelphia.

Alito received the award named for his former colleague on the US Court of Appeals' Third Circuit, the late Edward Becker, and spent his half-hour acceptance speech (which we were not permitted to record) recounting Becker's devotion to community and public service and urging the audience of judges, lawyers, officials, and select students to adopt those values.

Attorney Dan McElhatton, who founded the award six years ago, allowed that Becker likely would not have approved of some of Alito's judicial decisions ("He would have said, 'This is outrageous, some of this stuff' "), but he said Alito's appreciation of Becker made it a great event.

"To give the background he did of Ed Becker and weave it into, basically, a call-to-arms for folks to become engaged in their community, was extraordinary," McElhatton told KYW Newsradio.

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