Martin Feldman
| Martin Feldman | |
| Current Court Information: | |
| United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana | |
| Title: | Judge |
| Position: | Seat #9 |
| Station: | New Orleans, LA |
| Alternative court: | United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court |
| Alternative term: | 5/19/2010 - 5/18/2017 |
| Service: | |
| Appointed by: | Ronald Reagan |
| Active: | 10/05/1983 - Present |
| Preceded by: | Jack Gordon |
| Personal History | |
| Born: | 1934 |
| Home State: | St. Louis, MO |
| Bachelors: | Tulane U., B.A., 1955 |
| Law School: | Tulane Law, J.D., 1957 |
| Military service: | U.S. Army, Reserves 1957 - 1963 |
Contents |
Martin Leach-Cross Feldman is an Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He joined the court in 1983 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Feldman also serves on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. His term runs from May 19, 2010 until May 18, 2017.[1]
Early life and education
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Feldman graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana with his Bachelor's degree in 1955 and his Juris Doctor degree in 1957.[2]
Professional career
- U.S. Army Reserve Captain, JAG Corps, 1957-1963
- Law clerk, Hon. John Minor Wisdom, U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, 1957-1959
- Private practice, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1959-1983 [2]
Judicial career
Eastern District of Louisiana
Feldman was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1983 to a seat vacated by Jack Gordon. Feldman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 4, 1983 on a Senate vote and received commission on October 5, 1983.[2]
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
Feldman also concurrently serves on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. He was appointed on May 19, 2010 and his term will end on May 18, 2017.[3]
Notable cases
Clipper Estates case
| United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana *Joffroin v. Tufaro 606 F. 3d 235 |
|---|
| Judge Feldman dismissed a lawsuit filed by fifty people who lived in Clipper Estates in suburban New Orleans under allegations of violations of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The residents sued on allegations that the owner of Clipper Estates - also the President of the New Orleans Home Builders Association - used money he assessed against them after Hurricane Katrina for personal purposes instead of improving the subdivision as he promised. Feldman dismissed the lawsuit claiming the plaintiffs had no standing under RICO. [4] The case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where judges Thomas Reavley, Edward Prado, and Priscilla Owen affirmed Feldman's decision. It was determined that the plaintiffs in the case did not have standing after applying the three-part test from Whalen v. Carter, 954 F.2d 1087, 1093 (5th Cir.1992).[5] |
Deepwater drilling moratorium injunction
| United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana *Hornbeck Offshore Services, LLC et al. v. Kenneth Lee Salazar et al. 10-1663 |
|---|
| Judge Feldman blocked a six-month moratorium that the Obama administration placed on new deep-water drilling projects in response to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Feldman ruled that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium, implying that disallowing all deep-water drilling was overzealous. [6]
The Department of the Interior immediately planned to appeal the decision to the Fifth Circuit.[7] In October 2010, however, the Obama administration lifted the moratorium on deep-water drilling. [8] After the ruling by Feldman, his investments and stocks were analyzed, showing that in 2009 he held stocks of companies affected by his ruling. Judge Feldman insisted that he found out about these holdings on June 21 and contacted his broker to sell them on the morning of June 22. According to the The Wall Street Journal, "Under federal law, federal judges are prohibited from deciding cases in which they have financial interests in the parties or the outcome of the case. They are also prohibited from deciding cases in which there is the appearance of a conflict." [9] Because of the questions surrounding the status of his financial holdings, environmental groups asked that Feldman recuse himself from the case and suspend his ruling. [10][11] Expressing continued frustration with the Obama Administrations reluctance to open up off shore drilling, Feldman ordered the Obama Administration to decide on five pending deep sea drilling permits within 30 days or be held in contempt of court. Feldman stated in his ruling, "The plaintiff's operations in the Gulf of Mexico are threatened with endless disability. As the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster draws near, any reason that would have justified delays has, under a rule of reason, expired."[12] |
See also
External links
- Judge Feldman USDC, EDLA profile
- The Robing Room- Rate Judge Feldman
- Gavel Grab, "Groups Ask Judge to Disclose Energy Interests", June 24, 2010
- Judge Feldman's Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
References
- ↑ Current Judges of the FISC
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Judge Feldman's Biography from the Federal Judicial Center.
- ↑ Current Judges of the FISC
- ↑ "NOLA.com" Clipper Estates lawsuit dismissed by federal judge, September 14, 2009
- ↑ "Joffroin v. Tufaro, 606 F. 3d 235 - Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit 2010", May 11, 2010
- ↑ United States District Court Eastern District of Louisiana, Hornbeck Offshore Services et al. v . Kenneth Lee Salazar et al
- ↑ Voice of America "Obama Administration to Appeal Overturn of Deepwater Drilling Ban", June 23, 2010
- ↑ CNN.com, "Obama administration lifts deep-water drilling moratorium," October 12, 2010
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Groups Seek Judge's Removal in Drilling-Moratorium Case", July 2, 2010
- ↑ Gavel Grab, "Groups Seek Recusal by Judge in Drilling-Ban Case", July 5, 2010
- ↑ Business Week, "Drilling Ban Judge Won't Step Down Due to Investments", July 19, 2010
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Court Tells U.S. to Act on Drill Permits," 2/18/2011
| Federal judicial offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Jack Gordon |
Eastern District of Louisiana 1983–Current Seat #9 |
Succeeded by: NA |
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Active judges |
• James Zagel • Jennifer Coffman • Susan Carter • Dennis Saylor • Mary McLaughlin • Clyde Roger Vinson • Malcolm Howard • Martin Feldman • Thomas Hogan • Reggie Walton | ||
| Former Article III judges | |||
| Former Chief judges | |||
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 |
Bartlett • Beam • Becker • Bork • Cacheris • Cardamone • Chapman • Coughenour • Cox • Crow • Cyr • Doumar • Eschbach • Forrester • Garwood • Gibson • Glasser • Hall • Hamilton • Head • Jones • Kiser • Krenzler • Lee • Magnuson • McLaughlin • Miner • Moore • Nowlin • O'Connor • Pierce • Posner • Potter • Russell • Ryan • Shabaz • Sprizzo • Stevens • Waters • Wilhoit • Wilkins • Winter | ||
| 1982 |
Acker • Acosta • Altimari • Bell • Bissell • Black • Bullock • Caldwell • Coffey • Contie • Coyle • Dowd • Fagg • Fong • Fox • Gadbois • Gibson • Ginsburg • Hart • Higginbotham • Hogan • Irving • Jackson • Jolly • Kanne • Kovachevich • Krupansky • Lynch • Mansmann • McNamara • Mencer • Mentz • Mihm • Moody • Nordberg • Paul • Pieras • Plunkett • Porfilio • Potter • Pratt • Rafeedie • Restani • Roberts • Scalia • Selya • Telesca • Wellford | ||
| 1983 |
Baldock • Barbour • Barry • Bowman • Carman • Carter • Curran • Davis • Dorsey • Feldman • Fish • Flaum • Gibbons • Hallanan • Harris • Hinojosa • Hull • Hupp • Katz • Keenan • Kelly • Kram • Laffitte • Limbaugh, Sr. • Limbaugh, Sr. • Milburn • Nesbitt • Nevas • O'Neill • Rymer • Sharp • Starr • Vinson • Vukasin • Wexler • Woods | ||
| 1984 |
Barker • Beezer • Biggers • Billings • Bissell • Boyle • Brewster • Browning • DiCarlo • Duhe • Garcia • George • Hall • Hargrove • Higgins • Hill • Holland • Ideman • Jarvis • Keller • Leavy • Lee • Legge • Leisure • Little • Livaudais • Longobardi • McKibben • Milburn • Newman • Norgle • Prado • Rea • Rosenblatt • Rovner • Scirica • Smith, Jr. • Sneeden • Stotler • Suhrheinrich • Torruella • Wiggins • Wilkinson | ||
| 1985 |
Alley • Altimari • Anderson • Aquilino • Archer • Arnold • Baldock • Batchelder • Battey • Broomfield • Brown • Brown • Brunetti • Buckley • Cobb • Conmy • Cowen • Davidson • Dimmick • Duff • Easterbrook • Edgar • Farnan • Fernandez • Fitzpatrick • Fuste • Greene • Gunn • Guy • Hall • Hilton • Holderman • Hughes • Johnson • Jones • Korman • Kozinski • La Plata • Leinenweber • Letts • Lovell • Ludwig • Maloney • Mansmann • Marcus • McDonald • Meredith • Miller • Mills • Miner • Motz • Nelson • Noonan • Porfilio • Revercomb • Rhoades • Ripple • Rodriguez • Rosenbaum • Roth • Ryan • Sam • Scott • Sentelle • Silberman • Sporkin • Stanton • Stapleton • Strand • Strom • Tacha • Tevrizian • Thompson • Todd • Tsoucalas • Walker • Walter • Weber • Williams • Wilson • Wingate • Wolf • Wollman • Young • Zloch | ||
| 1986 |
Anderson • Boggs • Bryan • Cedarbaum • Cholakis • Conway • Davies • Dearie • Dubina • Duggan • Edmondson • Fawsett • Fitzwater • Gex • Graham • Hackett • Hansen • Henderson • Hittner • Howard • Jensen • Kay • Kleinfeld • Kosik • Lagueux • Lechner • Magill • Mahoney • Manion • McAvoy • McQuade • Norris • O'Scannlain • Rehnquist • Ryskamp • Scalia • Selya • Simpson • Smalkin • Spencer • Stiehl • Wilkins • Williams • Woodlock • Zatkoff | ||
| 1987 |
Alesia • Beam • Bell • Conboy • Cowen • Cummings • Daronco • Doty • Dwyer • Ebel • Ellis • Gadola • Gawthrop • Greenberg • Harrington • Howard • Hoyt • Hutchinson • Kanne • Kelly • Larimer • Leavy • Lew • Marsh • Mayer • McKinney • Michel • Mukasey • Musgrave • Niemeyer • Parker • Phillips • Politan • Pro • Raggi • Reasoner • Reed • Scirica • Sentelle • Smith • Smith • Stadtmueller • Standish • Tinder • Torres • Trott • Turner • Van Antwerpen • Voorhees • Webb • Whipple • Wolin • Wolle • Wood • Zagel | ||
| 1988 |
Arcara • Babcock • Brorby • Butler • Cambridge • Camp • Conlon • Cox • Dubois • Duhe • Ezra • Forester • Friedman • Garza • Hutton • Jordan • Kennedy • Lake • Lamberth • Lifland • Lozano • Marovich • Nygaard • Patterson • Schell • Smith • Smith • Tilley • Waldman • Zilly | ||
