- Nancy Gertner
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Nancy Gertner Judge on U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Incumbent Assumed office
February 14, 1994-September 1, 2011Nominated by Bill Clinton Preceded by A. David Mazzone Succeeded by TBD Personal details Born May 22, 1946
New York City, New YorkNancy Gertner (born May 22, 1946) is a former United States federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.Nancy assumed senior status on May 22, 2011.Her service was terminated on September 1, 2011, due to retirement.
Contents
Early life and education
Nancy was born in New York City and grew up in Flushing, New York, where she was a cheerleader, a member of the staff of her high school's literary magazine, runner-up for homecoming queen, and valedictorian of her class.[1] Gertner received her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College in 1967 and a Master of Arts and a Juris Doctor from Yale University in 1971. While attending Yale, Gertner became friends with Hillary Rodham and met Bill Clinton.
Career
Nancy began her legal career in 1971 as a law clerk for Judge Luther Swygert of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Between 1972 and 1994, she practiced law in and around the Greater Boston area, during which she also taught at Boston University School of Law and was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. During this period, Gertner was notable for being a supporter of liberalism and feminist ideals, wearing bright red dresses in court, carrying her legal briefs in shopping bags and keeping files on lawyers and judges she felt to be sexist.[1]
On October 27, 1993, on the recommendations of Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, Gertner was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by President Bill Clinton to a seat vacated by A. David Mazzone. Gertner was confirmed by the Senate on February 10, 1994, and received her commission on February 14, 1994.
After announcing her retirement from the bench effective September 1 2011, Gertner was appointed a Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School.[2]
Notable cases
Gertner ruled in U.S. v. Hines, 55 F.Supp. 2d 62 (D.Mass. 1999), a case regarding the admissibility of expert testimony, that (i) a handwriting expert could testify to similarities between handwriting samples but not state an opinion about whether the same person wrote both notes, and (ii) expert witness testimony regarding the reliability of eyewitness testimony, including problems of cross-racial identification, was admissible. The case interpreted new admissibility standards for expert testimony set forth by the Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993) and Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999).
On July 26, 2007, she ordered the federal government to pay a record $101.7 million for withholding evidence that could have exculpated four men wrongfully convicted of murder.[3] The men had been falsely accused by mob hitman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza, with the help of corrupt FBI agent H. Paul Rico. The government appealed the award, which was upheld in 2009 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.[4]
Judge Gertner presided over RIAA v. Tenenbaum, a civil trial in which the Recording Industry Association of America accused Joel Tenenbaum, a Massachusetts college student, of illegally downloading and sharing files, thus violating U.S. copyright law. In July 2009, a jury awarded $675,000 to the music companies, but Judge Gertner later reduced Tenenbaum's fines to $67,500,[5] stating that arbitrarily high statutory damages violate due process and are thus unconstitutional.
Personal
Gertner is to date the only Massachusetts judge to post to a personal blog. Though this has resulted in some criticism, Gertner maintains that judges are often too silent on issues they should publicly address.[6]
Gertner published her memoirs, In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate, in 2011. The book focuses on the period during which she worked as a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer before joining the Federal bench in 1994.[7]
Gertner is married to John Reinstein, Legal Director for the Massachusetts ACLU.
Awards
- 2008 Thurgood Marshall Award of the American Bar Association, recognizing Gertner's contributions to advancing human rights and civil liberties.[7]
References
- ^ a b Benoit Denizet-Lewis (December, 2001). "Courting Controversy". Boston Magizine. Metrocorp, Inc. http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/courting_controversy/. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
- ^ Harvard Law School: "http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2011/02/4_practice.html", accessed May 4, 2011
- ^ Boston Globe
- ^ Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- ^ "Boston judge cuts penalty in song-sharing case". Associated Press. July 9, 2010. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hfe56cQJqoqqPuj2iQagbjj1ptdwD9GRQMEG2. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
- ^ Saltzman, Jonathan (May 27, 2008). "Off the bench, judge blogs her mind". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/05/27/off_the_bench_judge_blogs_her_mind/.
- ^ a b Nancy Cowger Slonim (March 31, 2008). "Judge Nancy Gertner, Boston, Receives 2008 Thurgood Marshall Award". American Bar Association. http://www.abanet.org/abanet/media/release/news_release.cfm?releaseid=295. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
Sources
- Nancy Gertner, In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate (Boston: Beacon Press, 2011)
- Nancy Gertner at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
External links
Categories:- 1946 births
- Living people
- Barnard College alumni
- Yale Law School alumni
- American civil rights lawyers
- American female lawyers
- American women judges
- Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
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