New chief justice sworn in

Ronald D. Castille, the former district attorney of Philadelphia who was elected a justice of the state's highest court in 1993, was formally installed yesterday as the new chief justice of Pennsylvania.

In a ceremony attended by the elite of Pennsylvania's legal community, Castille, 63, became the 55th chief justice of the nation's oldest appellate court. He succeeds Ralph J. Cappy, who retired this month.

Castille told the audience in the Supreme Court chamber at City Hall that the nation's courts must be independent of the two other branches of government and that justices, who are elected in Pennsylvania, do not serve the political parties in which they ran.

"We are simply elected to serve a higher calling, and that calling is justice," said Castille, a Republican, who reminded those assembled that justice must be equal and be imparted "even for the most hated and despised of our society."

The ceremony drew about 100 people, including Gov. Rendell and his wife, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; Mayor Nutter; U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan; five former justices; and a number of other judges.

Cappy and the five current justices spoke warmly of Castille, who served as an assistant prosecutor for 15 years before he was elected district attorney in 1985.

Nutter told the audience that he was heartened by Castille's remarks last month when he said he wanted the high court to be viewed as nonpolitical, and that he considered those remarks a "tremendous public statement."

Rendell, who is poised to appoint an interim justice to succeed Cappy until voters elect a justice in 2009, predicted that Castille would do well at the helm of the court.

"Ron Castille will be a great leader to . . . take this court to places that it's never been before," Rendell said.

Castille, a Marine Corps veteran who lost a leg in the Vietnam War, was hailed for his tenacity in recovering from the injury and going on to a lifetime of achievement.

Castille paid tribute to his platoon sergeant, Angel Mendez, who saved Castille's life but was killed by heavy machine-gun fire, and others who lost their lives in Vietnam.

"To some extent, I live my life for them, and my accomplishments are their accomplishments," said Castille, who got a standing ovation after he took the oath and received the crimson-edged collar of chief justice.

Castille also paid homage to those who now serve this country. "They are the very forces who protect our liberty and ensure our nation's security, even to the point of sacrifice of life and limb," he said.