Morris Lasker
Morris E. Lasker (b.July 17, 1917-d.December 25, 2009) was a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He joined the court in 1968 after being nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Lasker later assumed senior status on October 3, 1983.[1]
Early life and education
Lasker graduated from Harvard with his bachelor's degree in 1938 and later graduated from Yale Law School with his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1941 and also served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1946.[1] Lasker was a World War II veteran specializing in the Army Air Force.[2]
Professional career
Lasker began his legal career in the U.S. Senate as a Staff Attorney on a special Senate committee investigating national defense programs from 1941 to 1942 before becoming a private practice attorney with the New York City based firm of Battle, Fowler, Levy & Nearman from 1946 to 1968. From 1942 to 1946, Lasker took a four year hiatus from his professional career to serve in World War II for the U.S. Army.[2] Lakser also served as a Town attorney for Town of New Castle, NY from 1955 to 1957 and was a Justice of the peace for the Town of New Castle from 1957 to 1958.[2]
Judicial career
Southern District of New York
Lasker was nominated by Lyndon B. Johnson on November 28, 1967 to a seat vacated by Richard Levet. Lasker was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 24, 1968 and received commission on June 24, 1968. Lasker assumed senior status on October 3, 1983. Lasker later transferred to the District of Massachusetts in 1993 hearing cases on senior status.[2]
Noteworthy cases
Ivan Boesky case (1987)
Judge Lasker presided in the high profile insider trading trial of Wall Street trader Ivan Boesky in what was considered the biggest trading scandal of the 1980s. Lasker in 1987 sentenced Boesky in three years in prison after being convicted on charges of insider trading. Boesky got a lighter sentence from the judge after cooperating with federal prosecutors. In a separate civil trial, Boesky settled to pay $100 in damages.[2]
NYC jails (1974)
Judge Lasker will be remembered for a series of rulings in the 1970s and 1980s in which he forced New York City to change how it conducted business in its jails. During that time the Legal Aid Society of New York City filed numerous lawsuits against the City of New York for civil rights violations in the Manhattan House of Detention and Rikier's Island.[2]
The City of New York was found liable in the lawsuits after there was evidence that the jails had severe overcrowding issues that lead to numerous other problems. In one case involving Rikier's Island, the City of New York was found liable for not providing access to inmates for medical care and phone calls. Lasker in 1974 ordered The Tombs, another detention facility in Manhattan closed after Lasker found the jail to had severe overcrowding and forcing inmates to sleep on the floor along with dealing with filthy conditions such as cockroaches and mice.[2]
Judicial style
Despite some criticism of Lasker for engaging in judicial activism, many have praised Lasker for being a thoughtful and effective jurist in his affairs as a federal judge. People who knew Lasker found him to be someone who always loved his profession and was very reluctant to retire after assuming senior status in 1983.[2]
Those who have criticized Lasker for being an activist judge base their objections on his rulings in the 1970s and 1980s upholding prisoner's rights in which some of the landmark rulings seemed to be controversial in the mainstream.[2] Lasker said in one ruling on the violations of prisoner's rights in a New York City jail: “would shock the conscience of any citizen who knew of them" according to the judge.[2] Also, Lasker toured prisons in New York City seeing the conditions first hand for himself. Despite the criticisms, Lasker was noted to be soft spoken but firm in administering his rulings.[2]
See also
External links
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by: Richard Levet |
Southern District of New York 1968–1983 |
Succeeded by: John Walker
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| Active judges |
Chief Judge: Laura Swain • Kenneth Karas • John Koeltl • Cathy Seibel • Andrew L. Carter, Jr. • Nelson S. Roman • Analisa Torres • J. Paul Oetken • Paul A. Engelmayer • Edgardo Ramos • Jesse Furman • Ronnie Abrams • Lorna Schofield • Katherine Failla • Valerie Caproni • Vernon Broderick • Gregory Howard Woods • Mary Kay Vyskocil • Lewis Liman • Philip Halpern • John Cronan (New York) • Jennifer Rearden • Dale Ho • Jessica Clarke • Jennifer Rochon • Arun Subramanian • Margaret Garnett | ||
| Senior judges |
Victor Marrero • Kimba Wood • Richard Berman • Naomi Buchwald • Kevin Castel • Denise Cote • Paul Crotty • George Daniels • Paul Gardephe • Charles Haight • Alvin Hellerstein • Lewis Kaplan • John Keenan (New York) • Colleen McMahon • Loretta Preska • Jed Rakoff • Louis Stanton • Sidney Stein • Vincent L. Briccetti • | ||
| Magistrate judges | Kevin Fox • Debra Freeman • Gabriel Gorenstein • Paul Davison • James L. Cott • Sarah Netburn • Judith C. McCarthy • Barbara Moses • Katharine Parker • Stewart Aaron • Robert Lehrburger • Ona Wang • Sarah Cave • Andrew Krause • Jennifer Willis • Kim Berg • | ||
| Former Article III judges |
Michael Mukasey • Morris Lasker • Harold Baer • Deborah Batts • Robert Carter (New York) • Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum • Denny Chin • William Conner • Thomas Griesa • Richard Holwell • Barbara Jones • Shirley Kram • Peter Leisure • Gerard Lynch • Lawrence McKenna • Richard Owen • Robert Patterson (New York) • William Pauley • Stephen Robinson (New York) • Shira Scheindlin • John Sprizzo • Richard Sullivan (New York) • Robert Sweet • William Peter Van Ness • Samuel Rossiter Betts • Samuel Blatchford • Sonia Sotomayor • William Gardner Choate • Pierre Leval • Wilfred Feinberg • John Walker (New York) • Barrington Parker • Lawrence Pierce • Addison Brown • George Bethune Adams • George Chandler Holt • Charles Merrill Hough • Learned Hand • Julius Marshuetz Mayer • Augustus Noble Hand • John Clark Knox • Martin Thomas Manton • William Bondy • Henry Warren Goddard • Francis Asbury Winslow • Frank Joseph Coleman • Thomas Day Thacher • Alfred Conkling Coxe, Jr. • John Munro Woolsey • George Murray Hulbert • John William Clancy • Vincent Leibell (New York judge) • Samuel Mandelbaum • Edward Conger • Robert Porter Patterson, Sr. • Kevin Duffy • Gerard Goettel • Charles Metzner • Arnold Bauman • Alexander Bicks • Dudley Bonsal • Charles Brieant • John Bright • Vincent Broderick • Frederick Bryan • Francis Caffey • John Cannella • Richard Casey • John Cashin • Kenneth Conboy • Irving Cooper • Thomas Croake • Richard Daronco • Archie Dawson • Edward Dimock • David Edelstein • Marvin Frankel • Louis Freeh • Lee Gagliardi • Murray Gurfein • William Herlands • Irving Kaufman • Samuel Kaufman • Percy Knapp • Richard Levet • Mary Lowe • Lloyd MacMahon • Walter Mansfield • John McGohey • Edward McLean • Harold Medina • Constance Motley • Gregory Noonan • Edmund Palmieri • Milton Pollack • Simon Rifkind • Sylvester Ryan • Allen Schwartz • Abraham Sofaer • Charles Stewart • Sidney Sugarman • Charles Tenney • Harold Tyler • Lawrence Walsh (New York judge) • Robert Ward • Edward Weinfeld • Henry Werker • Inzer Wyatt • John S. Martin (New York) • Thomas Francis Murphy (New York) • Alison J. Nathan • Katherine Forrest • | ||
| Former Chief judges |
Kimba Wood • Colleen McMahon • Loretta Preska • Lisa Smith (New York) • John Clark Knox • William Bondy • John William Clancy • Charles Brieant • David Edelstein • Lloyd MacMahon • Constance Motley • Sylvester Ryan • Sidney Sugarman • | ||
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