Uncrowned Community Builders

Honorable Rose H. Sconiers, New York State Supreme Court Justice, is former judge of the City Court of Buffalo; former Executive Attorney of the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc.; former Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Buffalo; and a 1973 graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law. She was admitted to the State Board in 1974, and to the United States Federal District Court in 1975. In addition, she is admitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

Justice Sconiers is an emeritus member of the University at Buffalo Council and a past President of the New York State Association of Council Members and College Trustees. She was appointed by the Chief Judge of New York State to the Unified Court System Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure and the Jury Project. She also is a member of the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission on Minorities. Justice Sconiers is past president of the University at Buffalo Law Alumni Association and a former member of the Board of Directors of the New York State Defenders Association.

Justice Sconiers is the first Vice President of the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; Assistant Presiding Officer of the Judicial Council of the New York State Bar Association; and a delegate to the National Conference of State Trial Judges of the American Bar Association.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Erie County Bar Foundation; a former member of the Erie County Bar Association Grievance Committee; and the past Chairman of the Lawyer Referral Service Committee and Law Day Committee. She also served on the Bar's Special Committee to Study the Feasibility of Creating a Police Civilian Review Board for the Buffalo Police Department; Practice and Procedure in City Court Committee; Judiciary Committee; and Ethics Committee.

Justice Sconiers is a Past President of the Erie County Chapter of The Links, Incorporated; past President of the Supreme Court Justices Association, Eighth Judicial District; past President of the Buffalo Chapter, National Bar Association; past Chairperson, Friends of The School of Architecture and Environmental Design at SUNY; past Vice-Chairperson, Women for Downtown; past President, Community Planning and Assistance Center for Western New York (CPAC); and past Chairperson of the 13th Street Multi-Purpose Center, Inc., in Niagara Falls, New York. Justice Sconiers is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Children's Hospital; the Board of Trustees of St. Mary School for the Deaf; and Board of Directors of the Buffalo Chapter, American Red Cross.

The Honorable Rose H. Sconiers was elected to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church in 2018. At the first meeting of the Executive Council in Chaska, Minnesota October of that year, Justice Sconiers was elected to the Executive Committee of the Executive Council. Justice Sconiers has served with Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry and helped develop the agenda for each meeting of the Council, monitored progress on Council initiatives and resolved, undertook work delegated by the Council and conferred and took action on extraordinary matters. Justice Sconiers was also elected at this meeting as Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Mission within the Episcopal Church.

This Committee is charged with overseeing the work of racial reconciliation and justice. Sconiers is currently serving as Vice-Chair of the Diocese of Western New York Commission to Dismantle Racism and Discrimination and Chair of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, Racial Equity Roundtable.

Justice Sconiers is married to Attorney Lester G. Sconiers and is the mother of a daughter, Lisa Rose, and son, Lester, Jr.