Jesse M. Furman

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Jesse Matthew Furman (born 1972)[1] is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Jesse M. Furman
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Assumed office
February 17, 2012
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byAlvin Hellerstein
Personal details
Born
Jesse Matthew Furman

1972 (age 51–52)
New York City, U.S.
SpouseAriela Dubler
Parent(s)Gail Furman
Jay Furman
RelativesJason Furman (brother)
EducationHarvard University (BA)
University of Oxford
Yale University (JD)

Early life and education

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Furman is the son of psychologist Gail (née Gorman) and real estate developer Jay Furman.[2] He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1994 and then was a Henry Fellow at the University of Oxford from 1994 to 1995.[3] He received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1998.[3] From 1998 to 1999, Furman served as a law clerk for then United States District Judge and future United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey.[3] From 1999 to 2000, he clerked for United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge José A. Cabranes.[4] From 2002 to 2003, he clerked for Associate Justice David Souter.[3][1]

Career

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Furman worked as a lawyer at the law firm Wiggin & Dana from 2000 to 2002 and again from 2003 to 2004.[3] In 2004, he became a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he served as an Assistant United States Attorney. From 2007 to 2009, he worked in the office of the United States Attorney General as Counselor to the Attorney General.[3][1] A 2005 New York Observer article named him as a potential future Supreme Court nominee.[5]

Federal judicial service

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On June 7, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Furman to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that had been vacated by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who assumed senior status in January 2011.[3][6] On September 15, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported his nomination to the Senate floor by a voice vote. On February 15, 2012, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed cloture on Furman's nomination.[7] The Senate vitiated the cloture motion on February 16 and confirmed Furman on February 17, by a 62–34 vote.[8] He received his commission the same day.[1]

Notable cases

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On March 24, 2018, United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced his decision to add a question about citizenship status to the 2020 Census questionnaire, asserting that it was necessary to help the Justice Department enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[9] Two groups of plaintiffs filed lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to block the question.[10] The cases were assigned to Furman, who rejected the plaintiffs' claim that adding the question violated the Enumeration Clause of the U.S. Constitution but held that Ross's decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that the Voting-Rights-Act-enforcement rationale was a pretext designed to conceal the true reasons for adding the question.[11] Furman entered an order blocking implementation of Ross's decision.[12] On June 27, 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed Furman's order, agreeing that the Voting-Rights-Act-enforcement rationale was pretextual.[13] The Court's decision left open the possibility that Ross could try again to add the citizenship question to the 2020 Census,[13] but the Trump administration did not make a second attempt.[14]

Personal

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Furman is married to Ariela Dubler[15][16] a former Columbia Law School professor who now heads the Abraham Joshua Heschel School. His brother Jason Furman served as an economic adviser to President Obama.[17] Furman is Jewish.[15][18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Jesse M. Furman at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  2. ^ "In Memoriam: Jay Furman, 1942-2015". New York University School of Law News. January 5, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g White House: Office of the Press Secretary (June 7, 2011). "President Obama Nominates Four to the United States District Court". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved June 8, 2011 – via National Archives.
  4. ^ "United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). judiciary.senate.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  5. ^ Schneider-Mayerson, Anna (2005-11-03). "The Little Supremes". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved 2015-06-10.
  6. ^ The White House: Office of the Press Secretary (June 7, 2011). "Nominations Sent to the Senate". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved June 8, 2011 – via National Archives.
  7. ^ "U.S. Senate Periodical Press Gallery". Archived from the original on 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  8. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation Jesse M. Furman, of New York, to be United States District Judge)". www.senate.gov.
  9. ^ Hansi Lo Wang. "How The 2020 Census Citizenship Question Ended Up In Court". NPR.org. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  10. ^ Hansi Lo Wang (3 April 2018). "More Than 2 Dozen States, Cities Sue To Block Census Citizenship Question". NPR.org.
  11. ^ Hansi Lo Wang. "Judge Orders Trump Administration To Remove 2020 Census Citizenship Question". NPR.org. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  12. ^ Hansi Lo Wang. "Judge Orders Trump Administration To Remove 2020 Census Citizenship Question". NPR.org. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  13. ^ a b Liptak, Adam (27 June 2019). "Supreme Court Leaves Census Question on Citizenship in Doubt". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  14. ^ Hansi Lo Wang. "Trump Backs Off Census Citizenship Question Fight". NPR.org. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  15. ^ a b "UJA-Federation of New York mourns the passing of Jay Furman, longtime supporter of UJA-Federation and a distinguished leader in our community as a member of UJA-Federation's Finance Committee & Board of Directors". The New York Times. January 6, 2015.
  16. ^ "Furman--Gail. UJA-Federation of New York mourns the passing of Gail Furman, beloved mother and mother-in-law of our friends Jesse Furman and Ariela Dubler who have long demonstrated leadership and an unwavering commitment to the Jewish community". New York Times. April 19, 2019.
  17. ^ Gerstein, Josh (June 17, 2008). "An Ex-New-York-Knife-Juggler To Hone Obama's Econ Policy". The New York Sun. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
  18. ^ "Tribal Allegiance: The Strange Nexus of a Brooklyn Rabbi and Hedge-Fund King Steven Cohen". Tablet Magazine. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
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Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
2012–present
Incumbent