Who

"A living legend" according to the National Law Journal, U.S. District Court Judge Jack Weinstein has been on the bench for more than 40 years.

Backstory

Weinstein moved with his family from Kansas to Bensonhurst and accompanied his actress mom to auditions as a toddler, later earning small paychecks during the Depression as a child performer. It was during World War II that Weinstein first became interested in the legal profession: Serving on a submarine, he spent much of his free time reading up on the law, and following his discharge he headed straight to Columbia Law School. After briefly working in private practice and serving as a law professor at Columbia, he became Nassau County's chief attorney; in 1967—based on the recommendation of Bobby Kennedy—President Lyndon Johnson nominated him federal judge for the Eastern District of New York. In 1981, Weinstein was appointed chief judge. He's since presided over thousands of cases and adjudicated a number of precedent-setting mass tort cases. In Hall v. E. I. Du Pont, he asserted that an entire industry could be held liable for not safeguarding its products; in the '80s, he was responsible for getting chemical companies to compensate Vietnam vets who'd been exposed to Agent Orange. The unprecedented deal paved the way for many of the class-action suits (guns, tobacco, breast implants, etc.) that have followed. Other Weinstein rulings have argued on behalf of expanded Social Security programs and the creation of a federal court for helping victims of mass disasters.

Of note

Weinstein is in his eighties, but he's elected to keep at it and still maintains a full caseload. His most high-profile case of late: In 2006, he presided over the "Mob cops" case in which two NYPD detectives—Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa—were accused of acting as Mafia hit men. Defended by the tag team of Ed Hayes and Bruce Cutler, the two were eventually found guilty, but Weinstein threw out the convictions in 2006 because the statue of limitations had run out. (Prosecutors have appealed and both men remain in prison.) Another notable recent case: In September 2006, Weinstein sent the tobacco industry reeling when he ruled that plaintiffs who were led to believe that light cigarettes were a healthier alternative to regular cigarettes could file class-action fraud suits against companies like Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, and Brown & Williamson.

For the record

Don't expect to see Weinstein dressed in a black robe. He only dons his official judicial garb on ceremonial occasions and prefers to wear a suit in the courtroom. He also eschews tradition when sentencing defendants and conducts the formalities while sitting at a conference table with them. The populist judge says the bench and robes are "an impediment" to the idea that the legal system belongs to every U.S. citizen.

On the side

Weinstein was an adjunct professor at Columbia from 1967 to 1995. He's also responsible for writing a number of weighty tomes about the rules of evidence in New York's federal and civil courts.

Personal

Weinstein married his wife Evelyn, a psychiatric social worker, in 1946. They have three adult sons and live in Great Neck. And while his kids have pushed him to retire, he's not looking to leave the bench anytime soon. "They don't realize how much fun I'm having," he told a reporter.

No joke

Political historians have said Bobby Kennedy was such a fan that had he been elected president, he probably would have nominated Weinstein to the Supreme Court.