Denny Chin

Denny Chin
Current Court Information:
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Title:	Judge
Position:	Seat #12
Station:	New York
Service:
Appointed by:	Barack Obama
Approval vote:	98-0
Active:	4/23/2010 - Present
Preceded by:	Robert Sack
Past post:	Southern District of New York
Past term:	1994 - 2010
Past position:	Seat #28
Personal History
Born:	1954
Home State:	Kowloon, Hong Kong
Bachelors:	Princeton, B.A., 1975
Law School:	Fordham U. Law, J.D., 1978

Denny Chin is a federal judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He joined the court in 2010 after an appointmnt by Barack Obama. Prior to his appointment, Chin served on the bench in the Southern District of New York and has also worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He joined the district court bench in 1994 after an appointment from Bill Clinton.

Early life and education

Born in Kowloon, Hong Kong in 1954 as Check Kong Chin, Chin graduated from Princeton with his Bachelor's degree in 1975 and later graduated from Fordham University School of Law with his Juris Doctor degree in 1978.

Professional career

Chin began his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Henry Weker in the Southern District of New York from 1978 to 1980 before becoming a private practice attorney in New York City from 1980 to 1982. Chin was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York United States Attorney's Office from 1982 to 1986. In 1986, Chin resumed private practice and also served as an Adjunct Professor for Fordham Law until 1996.

Judicial career

Second Circuit

On September 9, 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that Judge Chin would be nominated by Barack Obama to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and on October 6, 2009 Obama sent Chin's nomination to the Senate.

Judge Chin had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 18, 2009. He was confirmed 98 -0 by the Senate on April 22, 2010. You can find Chin's public questionnaire available here and Questions for the Record available here.

Chin was confirmed 98 - 0 by the Senate on April 22, 2010 and received his commission on the next day. At the time of his confirmation, Chin is the only Asian American serving as a federal appellate judge. Chin received a rating of "Unanimously Well Qualified" from the American Bar Association.

Southern District of New York

On the recommendation of U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Chin was nominated to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by President Bill Clinton on March 24, 1994 to a new seat created by 104 Stat. 5089, which was approved by Congress. Chin was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 9, 1994 on a majority voice vote and received commission on August 10, 1994. Chin was succeeded in this position by J. Paul Oetken.

Notable cases

NY City smoking deterrent posters

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit      *94th St. Grocery v. N.Y.C. Bd. of Health 11-91-cv

On July 10, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the decision of Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff, ruling that federal regulations preempted a city ordinance that required cigarette distributors to post gruesome photos of cigarette related illnesses at the point of sale. The court held that the 1965 Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act preempted the local law, thus rendering the local ordinance unconstitutional. Philip Morris USA alongside 2 other manufacturers, 2 major retailers and 2 trade unions challenged this city law in federal court last year. Despite admitting the risks of smoking, Rakoff agreed with the cigarette producers, stating in his opinion, "Even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law." The Second Circuit concurred, though they believed that the city could launch its own anti-smoking campaign using the images, but could not require retailers to do it. The case was heard by Judges Peter Hall, Gerard Lynch, and Denny Chin, with Chin writing the opinion of the court.

Google book scanning case

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York      *The Authors Guild et al. v. Google Inc, and American Society of Media Photographers et al. v. Google Inc 1:05-cv-08136-DC

Judge Chin is presiding in a copyright case involving Google after Google was taken to court by the Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers over alleged copyright violations in the tech giant's attempt to digitize books. On September 9, 2009, it was reported that Google will enter into a $125 million dollar settlement with the Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers. However, there has been widespread opposition to a possible settlement from not only the US Government, but the governments of Germany and France along with Japanese authors on the grounds of not letting authors have free choice over which parts of their works are published on the search engine. Judge Chin, on September 25, 2009, announced that he will delay a planned October 7, 2009 settlement hearing in the Google books case. Both sides asked for the delay over the possibility of the settlement being anti-competitive. However, both sides planned to meet on October 7, 2009 over case management plans to move the case to a final resolution. During the October 7, 2009 hearing, Judge Chin set a deadline of November 9, 2009 in which Google must have a settlement plan ready for the judge to approve. The previous settlement proposal was thrown out. On November 19, 2009, Judge Chin gave preliminary approval of a settlement made between Google and book publishers. Final approval of the settlement will not be made until a hearing scheduled on February 18, 2010. Members of the public and the United States Department of Justice have until February 4th to comment on the settlement. Google asked Judge Chin on February 11, 2010 to accept a $125 million dollar settlement in relation to the case. Attorneys for Google felt that if no settlement was reached, that it would set precedence for similar cases to backload court dockets resulting in litigation that could take years to rule on. The brief filed by Google was to convince the judge that the settlement would allow for more competition in the virtual book market amid Justice Department objections. Judge Chin on February 18, 2010 held a hearing on whether to accept the settlement by Google. Judge Chin had to delay the ruling because of so much information being presented that according to the judge "is too much to digest". However, on March 22nd, 2011 Judge Chin rejected the controversial settlement agreement "on copyright and antitrust grounds". The long-standing case was resolved, at least for publishers, on October 4, 2012 when the Association of American Publishers and Google announced a settlement. The AAP, acting on behalf of five publishers named as plaintiffs in the suit, issued a statement stating "Google is said to 'acknowledge the rights and interests of copyright-holders,' and U.S. publishers can 'choose to make available or choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project.' " While Google and the AAP were able to resolve their suit, an additional aspect of the suit remains: "barring a settlement with the Authors Guild, the fair use questions at the heart of the Google program could still be adjudicated by Judge Chin." Scans of court documents involved in the case, as well as transcripts of some hearings, can be found here.

Bernie Madoff Case

Southern District of New York

Judge Chin was the judge presiding over the court case of disgraced investment banker Bernie Madoff. Chin was the judge who presided over the short trial of the investment banker who created one of the largest Ponzi schemes ever in American history. Mr. Madoff who was the former Chief of the NASDAQ Stock Market was charged of bilking investors out of at least $50 billion as Madoff was charged with money laundering, perjury and securities, mail and wire fraud. The trail gained a lot of notoriety as wealthy investors to socialites lost money and even their fortunes under Madoff. During the preliminary hearings, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York pressed Federal magistrate judge Ronald Ellis to put Madoff in jail without any bail claiming that not keeping Madoff in jail results in what the Federal prosecutors perceived to be "obstruction of justice.". It was during the preliminary hearing that there was a power struggle between Federal prosecutors and the judges who presided over the case that fueled a public debate on whether Madoff should be in jail during the trial despite he used his $10 million dollar home in New York City as collateral towards bail. On March 12, 2009 in front of Judge Chin, Mr. Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts of securities and mail fraud, perjury and lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was during the sentencing that Judge Chin cited the likelihood that Madoff could spend the rest of his life in jail, as well as Madoff's access to funds revoked Madoff's bail deeming him a flight risk . On June 29, 2009, Mr. Madoff will be sentenced by Judge Chin. Federal prosecutors are seeking up to 150 years in Federal prison while prosecutors are only asking for twelve years behind bars. It was on the morning of the June 29th sentencing that the Federal probation department for the Southern District of New York recommended 50 years for Mr. Madoff. During the sentencing in front of Judge Chin, Mr. Madoff stated that he "will live with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life". Madoff also said during his sentencing that he dug himself "deeper into a hole" as the scheme progressed. Despite the claims from Madoff attorney Ira Sorokin that the 150 year sentence asked by prosecutors was excessive, Judge Denny Chin sentenced Madoff to 150 years in Federal prison. During the sentencing, Judge Chin said that Madoff's breach of trust was massive, and that he lied to investors and to the SEC to buy homes, yachts and country club fees. "Not a single letter was submitted in support of Madoff," Chin said. "Not friends, not family. That is telling." Judge Chin called the Madoff defense team claims for only 12 years in prison: "less than compelling". Burt Ross an investment banker who lost $5 million in the scheme testified to Judge Chin: "Commit Madoff to prison for the rest of his life. May Satan grow a fourth mouth where Madoff can spend the rest of eternity".

Judicial philosophy

During an interview recently published by the Wall Street Journal law blog, attorneys who appeared in front of Judge Chin had mostly positive qualities to attribute about Judge Chin who was nominated to the bench in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. “He’s got a good reputation,” said Bradley Simon, a former US Attorney in New York State. “I don’t know many people who have bad things to say about him.”, but Simon who was a former US Attorney thought Chin could have a pro-defense bias. A unidentified former Assistant U.S. attorney in New York State disagreed with Simon's findings saying that Chin leans slightly pro-government. “Either way, it’s not that strong a leaning,” said the former Assistant US Attorney. “He’s certainly not perceived as unfair.” Another unidentified former Assistant U.S. attorney in New York State said that “if you spin the wheel and land on Judge Chin, you’re elated, not because he’s pro-government, necessarily, but because he’s a gentleman, and he’s smart and capable.” The former prosecutor added, “He’s demanding, in a good way. He doesn’t let parties get away with too much.”.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

External links

• Judge Denny Chin Biography from the Federal Judicial Center.
• Denny Chin on Wall Street Journal's Law Blog
• Princeton Law Alumni Profile of Judge Denny Chin
• Rulings and Opinions of Judge Denny Chin on Justia
• Southern District of New York case Portal for Bernie Madoff
• Judge Chin's Profile at Fordham Law
• The Robing Room- Rate Judge Chin

References

Federal judicial offices
Preceded by: NA - new seat	Southern District of New York 1994–2010	Succeeded by: J. Paul Oetken
Preceded by: Robert Sack	Second Circuit 2010–present Seat #12	Succeeded by: NA