Harold Baer Jr. (February 16, 1933 – May 27, 2014) was a
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
of the
.
Education
Born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, Baer received his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree from
Hobart College in 1954, where he was a member of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
. He received his
Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...
in 1957.
[Joseph P. Fried]
"Harold Baer Jr., Judge Whose Civil Liberties Decisions Drew Criticism, Dies at 81"
(obituary), ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', May 29, 2014.
Early career
Baer's father,
Harold Baer, was a longtime
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
justice, born in New York City. Baer Jr.'s own legal career began as an assistant to the General Counsel of Greater New York Mutual Insurance in 1958. He was then Assistant Counsel to the New York State Commission on the Governmental Operations of the City of New York (1959–60) and New York State Commission of Investigation (1960–61). From 1961 to 1967 he was an
Assistant United States Attorney
An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...
in the
Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New Y ...
. He then served as Executive director, Civilian Complaint Review Board
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
from 1967 to 1968 before going back to the United States Attorney's office as Chief of the Criminal Division from 1970 to 1972. He was then an adjunct professor at
New York Law School
New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include E ...
from 1974 to 1983.
Judicial career
Baer was elected to serve in the
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
for
New York County
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in 1982 and served until 1992. While serving as a state trial judge, he was among the first in the United States to rule that a same-sex couple could be considered a family, so that the surviving member of the couple could benefit from tenant protections under the New York Rental Control laws. Although his decision was reversed by the Appellate Division, the Court of Appeals agreed with him in the landmark case of
Braschi v. Stahl Associates Co. He was then Executive Judicial Officer for th
Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Incfrom 1992 to 1994.
Federal judicial service
He was nominated by President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
to the
on April 26, 1994, to fill a seat vacated by Judge
Robert W. Sweet
Robert Workman Sweet (October 15, 1922 – March 24, 2019) was an American jurist and United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Education and career
Sweet ...
. He was confirmed by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
on August 9 and received his commission the next day. He took
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...
on September 8, 2004, serving in that status until his death.
Notable cases
; ''United States v. Bayless''
Judge Baer found his judicial career in a firestorm in 1996 when he issued an opinion that suppressed evidence in a drug case in the case of ''United States v. Bayless'', 913 F. Supp. 232 (S.D.N.Y. 1996). At the hearing, Judge Baer found that based on the testimony of the junior officer who claimed to have witnessed a drug transaction and the videotaped confession of the defendant, Carolyn Bayless, the police did not have reasonable suspicion sufficient for the arrest. In response to this ruling, two hundred members of Congress wrote to President Bill Clinton demanding that he seek Judge Baer’s resignation.
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
Press Secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage.
Duti ...
Mike McCurry weighed in with a threatening statement, but later changed course when Second Circuit Judges, led by Chief Judge Jon Newman, excoriated the other two branches of government for their clearly unconstitutional demands and pointed out how the criticism had reached a level that threatened judicial independence. In the end, Judge Baer reversed his ruling following a rehearing during which the government presented a fuller case and the defendant inexplicably took the stand. See ''US v. Bayless'', 921 F. Supp. 211 (S.D.N.Y. 1996). Judge Baer was criticized for this decision as well. He wrote about the experience in his book ''Judges Under Fire: Human Rights, Independent Judiciary, and the Rule of Law'' (2011).
; Class Action Counsel Diversity
For requesting evidence of racial and gender diversity among counsel selected to provide representation in class action lawsuits, Judge Baer has been accused of "using his judicial authority to pursue his own personal socio-political agenda." Objectors to a class settlement from 2011 challenged the practice on appeal, but in a summary order the Second Circuit dismissed the issue for lack of standing: "Although objectors allege that staffing a case with an eye to diversity 'may interfere with
ounsel'sability to provide the best representation for the class,' they never contend that class counsel's representation was actually inferior." Summary Order at 8-9, ''Blessing v. Sirius XM Radio Inc.'', No. 11-3696 (2d Cir. Mar. 13, 2013) (ECF No. 649). The case and Judge Baer's class action diversity practice then came before the US Supreme Court, where in denying a petition for writ of certiorari, Justice Samuel Alito, concurring in the denial, nonetheless issued a decision criticizing Judge Baer's practices, for various stated reasons, warning "the meaning of the Court's denial of the petition should not be misunderstood." ''Martin v. Blessing'', 134 S. Ct. 402 (Nov. 18, 2013). Notwithstanding the criticism from Justice Alito, district courts have continued to follow the precedent set by Judge Baer in considering diversity in the selection of class counsel.
[E.g., https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2020cv05538/540491/30/]
Death
Baer died on Tuesday, May 27, 2014.
Case list
*''Smith v. Islamic Emirate of Afg.''
262 F. Supp. 2d 217
*''US v. Bayless'', 913 F. Supp. 232 (SDNY 1996); revised 921 F. Supp. 211 (SDNY 1996)
*''
Authors Guild v. HathiTrust'' (SDNY Oct. 10, 2012)
Publications
*''New York Evidentiary Foundations'' (1998), with Randolph N. Jonakait, E. Stewart Jones Jr., and Edward J. Imwinkelried.
* ''Judges Under Fire: Human Rights, Independent Judiciary, and the Rule of Law'' (2011).
See also
*
List of Jewish American jurists
This is a list of notable Jewish American jurists. For other famous Jewish Americans, see Lists of American Jews.
Supreme Court of the United States
Federal judges Appellate judges
* Robert E. Bacharach, Judge of the United States Court of ...
References
External links
*
*[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F4091FFB3B5B0C748CDDAD0894D8404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fB%2fBaer%2c%20Harold%20Jr%2e Judge Strikes Down Rule Limiting City Hall Protests]
To See Issue In Person, Judge Takes City Hall TourOral history interview with Harold Baer Jr. (2009) from ''Justice in New York: An Oral History'' (full transcript)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baer, Harold Jr.
1933 births
2014 deaths
Lawyers from New York City
New York Supreme Court Justices
Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
Yale Law School alumni
Hobart and William Smith Colleges alumni
Accidental deaths from falls
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
Assistant United States Attorneys
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges