Deborah Batts
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Deborah Anne Batts (April 13, 1947 – February 3, 2020) 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
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 United States district court, federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York (state), New York ...
. During Gay Pride Week in June 1994, Batts was sworn in as 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 ...
for
Manhattan 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 ...
, becoming the nation's first openly
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
,
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
federal judge. She 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 her 65th birthday, April 13, 2012.


Biography

Batts was born in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, to James Alexander Batts, director of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Harlem Hospital Center, and Ruth S. Batts, nurse, homemaker, and board member of the Philadelphia Home and School Council in the 1960s.


Marriage and family

Batts' siblings included sisters Mercedes Ellington and Denise Batts, and twin, Diane Batts Morrow. She was married to Ira A. McCown, with whom she had two children, Alexandra S. McCown and James Ellison McCown. In 2011, Batts married Gwen Zornberg.


Education and career

Batts received an
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 in Government from
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
in 1969, and a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
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 ...
in 1972. She subsequently clerked for Judge Lawrence Pierce of the
United States district court 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 ...
on which she served as a judge until her death. She 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 ...
from 1979 to 1984. In 1984, she became the first African American faculty member and an associate professor of law at
Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test take ...
,. She was a special associate counsel to the Department of Investigation for
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 ...
from 1990 to 1991. Outside of work, Batts dedicated her time to the RISE program, aiming to lower recidivism amongst at-risk offenders and continued to teach at the Fordham University School of Law.


Federal judicial service

On January 27, 1994, following the recommendation of Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (March 16, 1927 â€“ March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the United States Senate from 1977 until 2001 and served as an ...
, 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 ...
nominated Batts to a seat on the Southern District left open in 1989 when Judge
Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Owe ...
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 ...
. Batts 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 6, 1994, and received her commission on May 9, 1994. She 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 April 13, 2012. She continued to serve concurrently as an adjunct professor at
Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...
. She served until her death on February 3, 2020, from complications during knee surgery. On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'' of infringing its copyright on the song " When You Wish Upon a Star", through a parody song titled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode " When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., which holds the copyright, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of their music with
antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
lyrics. Named in the suit were ''Family Guy'' creator
Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creator ...
, 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co.,
Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
, and
Walter Murphy Walter Anthony Murphy Jr. (born December 19, 1952) is an American composer, keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for the instrumental " A Fifth of Beethoven", a disco adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony which top ...
; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and asked for unspecified damages. Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a
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 rec ...
-protected parody per the ruling in ''
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. ''Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.'', 510 U.S. 569 (1994), was a United States Supreme Court copyright law case that established that a commercial parody can qualify as fair use. This case established that the fact that money is made by a work do ...
'' On March 16, 2009, Batts held that ''Family Guy'' did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode. In 2007, Batts was a prominent figure in the litigation over the case of the
Central Park Five Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
, rejecting the dismissal of their lawsuit.


See also

*
List of African-American jurists This list includes individuals self-identified as African Americans who have made prominent contributions to the field of law in the United States, especially as eminent judges or legal scholars. Individuals who may have obtained law degrees or ...
*
List of first women lawyers and judges in New York This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in New York. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their s ...
*
List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States This list of the first women lawyers and judges in each state of the United States includes the years in which the women were admitted to practice law. Also included are women of other distinctions, such as the first in their states to get law de ...
*
List of LGBT jurists in the United States This is a list of openly LGBT Americans who are or were judges, magistrate judges, court commissioners, or administrative law judges in the United States and its federal district and territories. If known, it will be listed if a judge has served o ...


References


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Batts, Deborah A. 1947 births 2020 deaths African-American judges African-American women lawyers American women lawyers African-American lawyers Assistant United States Attorneys Fordham University faculty Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York LGBT African Americans LGBT appointed officials in the United States LGBT judges LGBT lawyers LGBT people from Pennsylvania Lawyers from Philadelphia Philadelphia High School for Girls alumni Radcliffe College alumni United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton Cravath, Swaine & Moore people 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women