Today is Pennsylvania's primary election! Visit our elections page to learn more about your candidates before you head to the polls.


Charles Sifton

From Judgepedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Charles Sifton
Placeholder image.png
Do you have a photo that could go here? Submit it for this profile by emailing us!
Current Court Information:
Eastern District of New York
Title:   Former Judge
Position:   Seat #7
Service:
Appointed by:   Jimmy Carter
Active:   10/12/1977 - 3/18/2000
Chief:   1995 - 2000
Senior:   3/18/2000 - 11/9/2009
Preceded by:   John Dooling
Succeeded by:   Nicholas Garaufis
Personal History
Born:   March 18, 1935
Home State:   New York, NY
Deceased:   November 9, 2009
Bachelors:   Harvard, B.A., 1957
Law School:   Columbia Law, LL.B., 1961

Contents

Charles Proctor "Tony" Sifton (b.1935, d.2009) was a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He passed away on November 9, 2009. [1][2]

Early life and education

Born in New York City, New York, Sifton received a Bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1957 and was a Fullbright Scholar at the Georg August University in Gottingen, Germany, from 1957 to 1958. Sifton earned a Bachelor's of Laws degree, LL.B., from Columbia Law School in 1961. [3]

Professional career

Sifton was a private practice attorney in New York City from 1961 to 1962 before serving as Staff Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations until 1964. After returning to private practice in New York City until 1966, Sifton served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York until 1969, where Sifton was the Chief Appellate Attorney in 1968. Sifton returned to private practice in New York City until 1977. [3]

Judicial career

Eastern District of New York

Sifton was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York by President Jimmy Carter on August 16, 1977, to a seat vacated by John Dooling. Sifton was confirmed by the Senate on October 12, 1977, and received commission that same day. From 1995 to 2000, Sifton served as the Chief Judge and assumed senior status on March 18, 2000.[3]

Legacy

Judge Sifton has presided over some of the most significant federal court rulings ever to go through the Eastern District of New York. In 1992, Judge Sifton ruled against federal officials for illegal seizure of the abortion drug RU-486. This was noted when a woman in the United States went to France to obtain the drug only to come back to the United States to have the drug seized by customs officials. Sifton's ruling was reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States. This was considered a major step in allowing the United States Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug in 2000. [4]

The final high profile ruling of his career was ruling in favor of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to be allowed to run for a third term as Mayor for the 2009 election cycle. Mayor Bloomberg filed suit in federal court over New York City's term limits law in which limited mayors to two terms. [4] It was Bloomberg's suit that was the first step in allowing him to run for a third term in 2009. Bloomberg won election on November 3, 2009 by a close 51 to 46 percent margin[5].

Death

Sifton passed away during the early morning hours of November 9, 2009 after a lengthy illness related to lung disease. [4]

External links

Wikipedia-logo-en.png

Wikipedia has an article on

References

Federal judicial offices
Preceded by:
John Dooling
Eastern District of New York
1977–2000
Succeeded by:
Nicholas Garaufis


Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Encyclopedia:
Get involved:
Donate
Toolbox