Jawn Ardin Sandifer (June 6, 1914 – September 1, 2006) was an American

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

, judge and New York State Supreme Court Justice. Sandifer headed the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

's New York State branch and was involved in cases, including school segregation. He argued Henderson v. United States (1950) before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Early life and education

Born John Sandifer on June 6, 1914, in Greensboro,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, he was one of Charles and Nettie Sandifer's nine children. In college, he changed his first name from John to Jawn. Sandifer graduated from

Johnson C. Smith University Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and accredited by the ...

in 1935 and in 1938 he earned his law degree from the

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the oldes ...

Career

Early in his legal career, Sandifer was dedicated to fighting

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

. During World War II, he served in the Army's criminal investigation unit. In 1949, he moved to New York City and opened a private legal practice in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

. The same year, he was elected to serve as one of the two lawyers for the New York branch of NAACP, working with

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

. In 1950, while working with the NAACP, he had the opportunity to argue a key discrimination case for the U.S. Supreme Court case, Henderson v. United States. His judicial career started in 1964, when he was appointed to the civil court bench in New York City by mayor

Robert F. Wagner Robert Ferdinand Wagner I (June 8, 1877May 4, 1953) was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949. Born in Prussia, Wagner migrated with his family to the United States in 1885. After graduating ...

. In 1982, Sandifer won the election for State Supreme Court in Manhattan. He retired in 1992.

New York City Sanitation Department case

In 1986, there was a case involving a change to the City Sanitation Department entrance exam. The union, Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association, alleged that the most recent entrance test for the job was too easy and "noncompetitive". The older, 1974 version of the entrance test and examination, had involved obstacle courses with scaling eight-foot walls, and was unrelated to the job of hauling garbage. Of 45,000 people who took the 1986 version of the exam, 44,000 earned the highest grade and 1,710 of those were women. Sandifer approved the use of the current version of the entrance exam, siding with the City Sanitation Department in his ruling and allowed the City Sanitation Department to hire its first women.

Legal Right to Die case

Thomas Wirth, who had

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

and a brain infection, drafted a living will in April 1987 with his legal guardian. It stated that if he could not be restored to a "meaningful quality of life," he wished to be allowed the right to die "without extraordinary medical measures". In July 1987, Judge Sandifer sided with Bellevue Hospital, the hospital giving life prolonging treatment to Wirth, because it had not been proven that Wirth's brain infection was not treatable. Wirth died in August of the same year, of an AIDS-related brain infection.

Personal life

Sandifer was married to Laura Sandifer until her death in 1993.Together they had a son named Floyd. Sandifer's second wife was Elsa Krueger–Sandifer Sandifer died at age 92 on September 1, 2016, due to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. Sandifer is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor, New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandifer, Jawn 1914 births 2006 deaths Howard University School of Law alumni Johnson C. Smith University alumni NAACP activists American civil rights lawyers Lawyers from New York City 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American lawyers