84 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2021
OBITUARY
JUDGE JACK WEINSTEIN
LONGEST-SERVING U.S. JUDGE
BY BRIANA BONFIGLIO
Judge Jack Weinstein, a Great
Neck resident and the nation’s
longest-serving federal judge,
died on June 15. He was 99.
Before his retirement in February
2020, the World War II veteran
and former chief judge presided
over cases in the U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of
New York (EDNY) in Brooklyn,
which includes Long Island in its
jurisdiction. He was the last current
judge appointed by President
Lyndon B. Johnson and had served
53 years on the bench.
“As The New York Times reported
when he retired last year, Judge
Weinstein was a ‘legal lion’ who
championed causes like gun
control and school desegregation
... and carved out a niche as a
liberal hero during his career,”
Chief Judge Margo K. Brodie said
in a statement announcing Weinstein’s
death. “More recently, Judge
Weinstein publicly called ‘for more
female lawyers to have speaking
roles in court’ and decried the ‘lack
of sentencing alternatives’ for violent
young criminals who, he said,
are often written off as ‘society’s
unredeemables.’”
Weinstein was born in Kansas and
moved with his family to Brooklyn at
age 5. He attended Brooklyn College,
where he received his bachelor’s
degree in 1943. Weinstein then
served a few years in the U.S. Navy
during World War II. He retired as
a lieutenant in 1946.
Upon his return home, Weinstein
attended Columbia Law School and
graduated with a law degree in
1948. He went on to be a professor at
Columbia for many years and was
a highly regarded legal scholar. He
served as a member of the NAACP’s
litigation team, helping his friend
and mentor Thurgood Marshall argue
Brown v. Board of Education, the
ruling that found school segregation
unconstitutional, before Marshall
became the first Black U.S. Supreme
Court justice.
Weinstein also served as Nassau County
Attorney for two years under then-Nassau
County Executive A. Holly Patterson
a decade before being appointed as federal
judge.
“He was kind, generous, and supportive
of everyone in the EDNY family, including
regularly sending handwritten notes
of congratulations and encouragement
to his colleagues,” Brodie said. “We all
mourn his loss but will celebrate and
always treasure his many contributions
to the law, the administration of justice,
and to the EDNY bench.”
High-profile cases that Weinstein presided
over include awarding a $180 million
settlement for those poisoned by Agent
Orange during the Vietnam War and
ruling in favor of New York City in a
suit against gun manufacturers that was
later overturned. He was known for his
leniency in sentencing.
-With Tim Bolger
Judge Jack Weinstein. (Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
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