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Charles Sifton
Charles Proctor "Tony" Sifton was a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He passed away on November 9, 2009.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Born in New York City, New York, Sifton received a bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1957 and was a Fullbright Scholar at the Georg August University in Gottingen, Germany, from 1957 to 1958. Sifton earned a LL.B. degree from Columbia Law School in 1961.[4]
Professional career
- 1969-1977: Attorney in private practice
- 1966-1969: Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York
- 1964-1966: Attorney in private practice
- 1962-1964: Staff Counsel, United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
- 1961-1962: Attorney in private practice[4]
Judicial nominations and appointments
Eastern District of New York
Sifton was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York by President Jimmy Carter on August 16, 1977, to a seat vacated by Judge John Dooling. Sifton was confirmed by the Senate on October 12, 1977, and received commission that same day. From 1995 to 2000, Sifton served as the Chief Judge and assumed senior status on March 18, 2000.[4]
Legacy
Judge Sifton has presided over some of the most significant federal court rulings ever to go through the Eastern District of New York. In 1992, Judge Sifton ruled against federal officials for illegal seizure of the abortion drug RU-486. This was noted when a woman in the United States went to France to obtain the drug only to come back to the United States to have the drug seized by customs officials. Sifton's ruling was reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States. This was considered a major step in allowing the United States Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug in 2000.[3]
The final high profile ruling of his career was ruling in favor of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to be allowed to run for a third term as Mayor for the 2009 election cycle. Mayor Bloomberg filed suit in federal court over New York City's term limits law in which limited mayors to two terms.[3] It was Bloomberg's suit that was the first step in allowing him to run for a third term in 2009. Bloomberg won election on November 3, 2009 by a close 51 to 46 percent margin.[5]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ New York Times, "Charles P. Sifton, Judge in City Case on Term Limits, Dies at 74," November 9, 2009
- ↑ Washington Post, "Judge's ruling allowed Bloomberg to run for 3rd term as N.Y. mayor," November 18, 2009
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Associated Press "Federal judge Sifton dies in NYC," November 10, 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Judge Sifton Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
- ↑ "Times of India" Michael Bloomberg wins third term as New York mayor, November 4, 2009
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: John Dooling |
Eastern District of New York 1977–2000 |
Succeeded by: Nicholas Garaufis
|
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 |
Ballantine • Bownes • Boyle • Bua • Carr • Clark • Cowan • Daly • Filippine • Higginbotham • Hoeveler • Hug • Johnstone • Kane • Keith • Leval • Logan • MacLaughlin • McKay • Melton • Merritt • Murphy • Nickerson • Oberdorfer • Roszkowski • Roy • Rubin • Sifton • Tang • Vance • Veron | ||
| 1978 |
Arnold • Baker • Boyle • Burns • Campos • Claiborne • Collins • Cook • Devine • Diamond • Duplantier • Edenfield • Friedman • Gonzalez • Greene • Jenkins • Lowe • Mazzone • McMillian • O'Brien • Pfaelzer • Phillips • Pollak • Sand • Shapiro • Simmons • Smith • Sweet • Tanner • Wiseman • Ziegler | ||
| 1979 |
Ackerman • Alarcon • Anderson • Arceneaux • Arnold • Aspen • Beatty • Beer • Belew • Bertelsman • Bilby • N. Black • S. Black • Bloch • Bowen • Brett • Brooks • Brown • Buchmeyer • Bunton • Burciaga • Cabranes • Carr • Carrigan • Castagna • Cire • Clark • Cohn • Conaboy • Cordova • Crabb • Cudahy • Davis • DeAnda • Debevoise • Edwards • Eginton • Ellison • Enslen • O. Evans • T. Evans • Farris • Ferguson • Fletcher • Frye • Garcia • Garza • B. Gibson • H. Gibson • Gierbolini-Ortiz • Giles • Gilliam • Green • Hall • Hastings • Hatchett • Hatfield • Hatter • Hawkins • Henderson • Higby • Hillman • Houck • Howard • Hudspeth • Hungate • F. Johnson • S. Johnson • N. Jones • S. Jones • Karlton • Kazen • Kearse • Keeton • Kehoe • Kennedy • Kidd • King • Kravitch • Loughlin • Martin • McCurn • McDonald • McNaught • McNichols • Mikva • Mitchell • Moran • Murnaghan • Murphy • D. Nelson • D.W. Nelson • Newblatt • Newman • Overton • Paine • Panner • J. Parker • R. Parker • Penn • Perez-Gimenez • Perry • Politz • Poole • Porter • Pregerson • Price • Rambo • Ramirez • Reavley • Redden • E. Reed • S. Reed • Reinhardt • Renner • Robinson • Rothstein • Sachs • Saffels • Sanders • Sarokin • Schroeder • Schwartz • Seay • Senter • Seymour • Shannon • Shaw • Shoob • Skopil • Sloviter • Sofaer • Spellman • Sprouse • Staker • Tate • Taylor • Thompson • Tidwell • Unthank • Vietor • Vining • Wald • Ward • Weinshienk • West • Wicker • Williams • Winder • Woods • Wright • Zobel | ||
| 1980 |
Aguilar • Aldrich • Anderson • Boochever • Breyer • Britt • Cahill • Canby • Carroll • Cerezo • Clemon • S. Ervin • R. Erwin • Getzendanner • Gilmore • Ginsburg • Haltom • Hardy • Henderson • Hobbs • Holschuh • Horton • Howard • Johnson • Keep • Kelly • Kenyon • Kocoras • Marquez • Marshall • Michael • Nixon • Norris • Patel • Polozola • Propst • Quackenbush • Ramsey • Rice • Shadur • Spiegel • Tashima • Thompson • Vela • White • Williams | ||
| 1981 | |||
