Nancy Gertner
Nancy Gertner | |
---|---|
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts | |
In office May 22, 2011 – September 1, 2011 | |
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts | |
In office February 14, 1994 – May 22, 2011 | |
Appointed by | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | A. David Mazzone |
Succeeded by | Timothy S. Hillman |
Personal details | |
Born | New York City, U.S. | May 22, 1946
Education | Barnard College (BA) Yale University (MA, JD) |
Nancy Gertner (born May 22, 1946) is a former
Early life and education
Gertner was born in
Career
Gertner began her legal career in 1971 as a
Federal judicial service
On October 27, 1993, on the recommendations of Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, Gertner was nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts by President Bill Clinton to a seat vacated by A. David Mazzone. Gertner was confirmed by the Senate on February 10, 1994, and received her commission on February 14, 1994. Gertner assumed senior status on May 22, 2011, and retired on September 1, 2011.
Later career
After retiring from the bench, Gertner was appointed a Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School.[1] She was named a member of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States by President Joe Biden on April 9, 2021.[5]
Notable cases
Gertner ruled in U.S. v. Hines, 55 F.Supp. 2d 62 (D.Mass. 1999), a case regarding the admissibility of expert testimony, that (i) a handwriting expert could testify to similarities between handwriting samples but not state an opinion about whether the same person wrote both notes, and (ii) expert witness testimony regarding the reliability of eyewitness testimony, including problems of cross-racial identification, was admissible. The case interpreted new admissibility standards for expert testimony set forth by the
On July 26, 2007, she ordered the federal government to pay a record $101.7 million for withholding evidence that could have exculpated four men wrongfully convicted of murder.
Judge Gertner presided over
As a defense attorney, she defended
Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Alan Dershowitz and others have asserted that Robert Mueller was responsible for the improper imprisonment of four men when he was a federal prosecutor in Boston during the 1980s. In an opinion piece entitled "Smearing Robert Mueller", Gertner, who presided over the matter, wrote "[t]he record simply doesn't support these assertions".[10]
Personal life
This section is in prose. is available. (January 2020) |
Gertner is to date the only Massachusetts judge to post to a personal blog. Though this has resulted in some criticism, Gertner maintains that judges are often too silent on issues they should publicly address.[11]
Gertner published her memoirs, In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate, in 2011. The book focuses on the period during which she worked as a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer before joining the Federal bench in 1994.[12]
Gertner is married to John Reinstein, former Legal Director for the Massachusetts ACLU.[13]
In October 2015, Gertner became the subject of media attention in the Boston area when an escaped cockatoo did considerable damage to her Brookline residence, a historic Victorian home which also happened to be the birthplace of Robert F. Kennedy. After eluding capture for several months, the bird was caught on October 22.[14]
Awards
- 2008 Thurgood Marshall Award of the American Bar Association, recognizing Gertner's contributions to advancing human rights and civil liberties.[12]
- 2014 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award of the American Bar Association, recognizing Gertner's advocacy, mentoring and achievements in the legal field.[15]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Harvard Law School: "http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2011/02/4_practice.html", accessed May 4, 2011
- ^ "Gertner, Nancy – Federal Judicial Center".
- ISBN 978-0-8070-1143-0.
- ^ a b Benoit Denizet-Lewis (December 2001). "Courting Controversy". Boston Magazine. Metrocorp, Inc. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
- ^ "President Biden to Sign Executive Order Creating the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States". The White House. 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
- ^ "Boston Globe".
- ^ "AJC Homepage".
- ^ "Boston judge cuts penalty in song-sharing case". Associated Press. July 9, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
- ^ Beacon Press (20 May 2011). "Nancy Gertner talks about her first big case as a lawyer". Archived from the original on 2021-12-15 – via YouTube.
- ^ Opinion | Smearing Robert Mueller Apr 18, 2018 NYTimes.com
- ^ Saltzman, Jonathan (May 27, 2008). "Off the bench, judge blogs her mind". The Boston Globe.
- ^ a b Nancy Cowger Slonim (March 31, 2008). "Judge Nancy Gertner, Boston, Receives 2008 Thurgood Marshall Award". American Bar Association. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
- ^ "Matthew R. Segal named Legal Director of ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts". ACLU of Massachusetts. February 21, 2012. Archived from the original on May 8, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- ^ "Cockatoo at large in Brookline, and residents aren't happy". The Boston Globe. October 16, 2015.
- ^ "Previous Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award Recipients". American Bar Association. 2014. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
Sources
- Nancy Gertner, In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate (Boston: Beacon Press, 2011)
- Nancy Gertner at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.