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Leonard Burke Sand (May 24, 1928 – December 3, 2016) was an American judge who served as a
United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
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.


Early life and education

Sand was born and raised in
The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Yor ...
,
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 * ...
. He received a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
degree from the
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, t ...
School of Commerce (now the
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) in 1947 and a
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 Ch ...
from
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class i ...
in 1951, where he was note editor for the
Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...
. Sand served as a
United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sel ...
Ensign from 1951 to 1953.


Career

After law school, Sand served as a
law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
to Judge Irving Kaufman, then on the
United States District Court for 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 ...
. In 1953, Sand was appointed
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 gov ...
for the Southern District of New York, serving in the Criminal Division, which was followed by two years in private practice with the firm of Rosenman, Goldmark, Colin & Kaye (later renamed Rosenman & Colin, LLP). From 1956 to 1959, he served as an assistant to the
United States solicitor general The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021. The United States solicitor general represent ...
in Washington, D.C., during which he argued 13 cases before the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. Sand then reentered private practice in New York, eventually becoming a named partner of the firm then known as Robinson, Silverman, Pearce, Aronsohn, Sand & Berman (renamed Robinson, Silverman, Pearce, Aronsohn, and Berman after Sand's appointment to the bench). While in private practice, he successfully argued ''WMCA, Inc. v. Lomenzo'', 377 U.S. 633 (1964), before the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, a redistricting case decided in tandem with Reynolds v. Sims. The Court had set aside a week to hear nothing but reapportionment cases, and Sand was the first litigator to argue that week. He recalled being bombarded with questions from the justices. He was elected as a Delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1967.


Federal judicial service

Sand was nominated by President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from ...
on April 7, 1978, to a seat on the
United States District Court for 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 ...
vacated by Judge
Charles Miller Metzner Charles Miller Metzner (March 13, 1912 – November 30, 2009) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education and career Born in New York City, New York, Metzner received an ...
. 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 May 17, 1978, and received his commission on May 19, 1978. Sand sat
by designation A visiting judge is a judge appointed to hear a case as a member of a court to which he or she does not ordinarily belong. In United States federal courts, this is referred to as an assignment "by designation" of the Chief Justice of the Unite ...
on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...
and the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District o ...
. He assumed
senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at least ...
on July 1, 1993, serving in that status until his death on December 3, 2016, in Sleepy Hollow, New York. During his service on the court, Sand also served as an adjunct professor of law at
New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...
, where he taught, along with Judge
John G. Koeltl John George Koeltl (; born October 25, 1945) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. Education Koeltl was born in New York City. He graduated from Regis High S ...
, a seminar on constitutional litigation. As a senior judge, Sand donated his collected papers to the Pace Law School Archives at the
Pace University School of Law The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is the law school of Pace University located in White Plains, New York. Founded in 1976 as Pace Law School, the American Bar Association (ABA) accredited it in 1978. Pace has a top-ranked Env ...
.


Notable clerks

Sand's former
law clerks A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant r ...
include law professor Ann Althouse,
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
's General Counsel Jane E. Booth, the
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's Senior Vice President and General Counsel Eve Burton,
Massachusetts Appeals Court The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, the same ...
Associate Justice Gary S. Katzmann,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
's Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property Strategy Tom Rubin, Ernst & Young's Global Vice Chair and General Counsel Michael S. Solender, former interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Alan Vinegrad, Partner in the
Real Estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...
group at Sullivan and Cromwell Arthur S. Adler, and Colorado Fourth Judicial District judge Eric Bentley.


Notable cases

Two years into his time as a federal judge, Sand was assigned the landmark desegregation case ''United States v. City of
Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enum ...
''. An HBO
television miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. " Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...
'' Show Me a Hero'' (2015) was based on this trial;
Bob Balaban Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, author, comedian, director and producer. He was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for ''Gosford Park'' (2001), in which he also appeared. Balab ...
plays Sand in the series, which is based on the book of the same name. In his 1985 decision, he wrote, "the extreme concentration of subsidized housing that exists in southwest Yonkers today is the result of a pattern and practice of racial discrimination by city officials, pursued in response to constituent pressures to select or support only sites that would preserve existing patterns of racial segregation." In 1990, Sand handed down a ruling that overturned a ban on panhandling in the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...
. His decision says that panhandling is a free-speech right protected by the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
.''New York Times'', "Leonard B. Sand, Judge in Landmark Yonkers Segregation Case, Dies at 88", December 5, 2016
/ref> Sand appeared in the documentary film, ''Finding Nico'', to recount one of his more famous cases that didn't go to trial. He was presiding over a criminal indictment of the actor,
Nico Minardos Nico Minardos (February 15, 1930, Pangrati, Athens – August 27, 2011, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California) was a Greek-American actor. He died in 2011 in Woodland Hills, California at age 81, from natural causes. Work in Hollywood His fir ...
, and other defendants who had been caught in an FBI sting operation for allegedly conspiring to ship arms to Iran.
Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 19 ...
and his then-deputy United States Attorney, Lorna Schofield, were prosecuting Minardos, who was represented by the famed anti-government lawyer
William Kunstler William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 – September 4, 1995) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Civil ...
and his flamboyant co-counsel, Ron Kuby. Minardos appeared on
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...
with
Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...
to claim his actions had been authorized by the Reagan Administration. When the Iran-Contra scandal occurred the government dropped the charges against Minardos and his co-defendants. Sand commented what a shame it was the case didn't go to trial because the parties and issues were so interesting. One of the better known criminal trials presided over by Judge Sand was the 2001 trial which resulted from a 1998 bombing of two American embassies in
East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historica ...
. The trial was of four men accused of conspiring to perpetrate the bombings, which had led to the death of 224 people. Two of the defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment when the jury could not agree on their execution.


Awards and honors

Sand was awarded the
Learned Hand Billings Learned Hand ( ; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1909 to 1924 a ...
Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence by the Federal Bar Council in 1992 and the Edward Weinfeld Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Administration of Justice from the New York County Lawyers’ Association in 1993. He was the recipient of the American Arbitration Association’s Whitney North Seymour, Sr. Medal and was a fellow of the
American College of Trial Lawyers The American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) is a professional association of trial lawyers from the United States and Canada. Founded in 1950, the College is dedicated to maintaining and improving the standards of trial practice, especially tr ...
. On April 3, 2014, Judge Sand was awarded the New York City Bar Association's Association Medal, which is "presented from time to time to a member of the New York Bar who has made exceptional contributions to the honor and standing of the bar in this community."


Publications

Sand is co-editor, with Judge Jed S. Rakoff and others, of ''Modern Federal Jury Instructions,'' and has written extensively on juries as well as on other issues in law. * Leonard B. Sand, et al., ''Modern Federal Jury Instructions''. * Leonard B. Sand & Danielle L. Rose, ''Proof Beyond All Possible Doubt: Is there a Need for Higher Burden of Proof When the Sentence May Be Death?'', 78 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 1359 (2003). * Leonard B. Sand, et al., ''Preserving the Rule of Law in Hong Kong after July 1, 1997: A Report of a Mission of Inquiry'', 18 U. Pa. J. Int'l Econ. L. 367 (1997). * Leonard B. Sand, ''Batson and Jury Selection Revisited'', 22 Litigation 3 (1995–1996). * Leonard B. Sand, ''Getting Through to Jurors'', 17 Litigation 3 (1990–1991). * Leonard B. Sand, ''Trial by Non-Jury'', 13 Litigation 5 (1986–1987). * Leonard B. Sand & Steven Alan Reiss, ''Report on Seven Experiments Conducted by District Court Judges in the Second Circuit'', 60 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 423 (1985).


References


External links

*
Leonard Sand Papers
at Syracuse University {{DEFAULTSORT:Sand, Leonard Burke 1928 births 2016 deaths Assistant United States Attorneys Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York People from the Bronx Military personnel from New York City New York University Stern School of Business alumni United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter 20th-century American judges