Edward R. Korman

Edward R. Korman (born October 25, 1942) is a United States Senior District Judge serving on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn, NY. He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on October 2, 1985, confirmed by the United States Senate on November 1, 1985, commissioned on November 4, 1985, and entered service on December 16, 1985, to fill a new seat. Korman served as Chief Judge of the Eastern District of New York from 2000–2007 and took senior status in 2007. In addition to continuing his caseload in Brooklyn, Korman has also sat by designation on the Second, Sixth, and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals from 2008 to present.

Korman is the son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine and Poland. He earned a B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1966, an LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School in 1966, and an LL.M. from New York University in 1971. From 1966-68, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Kenneth B. Keating, New York Court of Appeals. Korman was an Associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison, New York, NY from 1968-70. In 1970, Korman became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he served until 1972.

From 1972-74, Korman was an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States. He then returned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, where he served as Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1974–78, and as U.S. Attorney from 1978-82. From 1982-85, Korman worked as partner and of counsel at the firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, New York, NY. During the school year dating 1984-85, Korman taught as a Professor at Brooklyn Law School. Starting in 1983 and continuing until Korman’s appointment to the bench, he was a member of the Temporary Commission of Investigation of the State of New York and Chairman of the Mayor’s Committee on New York City Marshals. Judge Korman is married and has two children.

In 2005, Korman wrote the forward to the book “The Lie That Wouldn’t Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” by Haddassa Ben-Itto. He wrote an essay in 2006 titled “Rewriting the Holocaust History of the Swiss Banks: A Growing Scandal,” which was published in “Holocaust Restitution: Perspectives on the Litigation and its Legacy,” edited by Michael Bazyler and Roger P. Alford. Korman also co-authored a biographical essay on Judge Kenneth B. Keating of the New York Court of Appeals, published in “The Judges of the New York Court of Appeals, a Biographical History,” edited by Albert M. Rosenthal.

Judge Korman has received numerous awards, some of which include:

- Award for Outstanding Judicial Contribution in the Criminal Justice System, New York State Bar Association, 1996;

- Edward Weinfeld Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Administration of Justice, New York County Lawyers Association, 2002;

- Honorary Doctor of Laws, Brooklyn Law School, 2003;

- Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence, Federal Bar Council, 2006;

- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for Invaluable Contribution to the American Legal System, Brooklyn College, 2014.

1989: Korman ordered the extradition of Mahmoud Abed Atta (a member of the Abu Nidal Organization) to Israel to stand trial for a terrorist bombing that occurred on a bus traveling between the West Bank and Tel Aviv.

1992: Highlighting the defendant’s lack of remorse, Korman sentenced a prominent corporate attorney, Harvey D. Myerson, to the severe sentence of 70 months in prison for committing over $2 million in tax fraud and fraud related to overbilling clients. The court of appeals affirmed.

1994: Korman sentenced a teenager to life in prison without parole following his conviction for killing a journalist in exchange for pay from a Colombian drug cartel angered by the journalist’s publications.

1996: In a case involving a murdered journalist following the journalist’s anti-drug cartel writings, Korman leniently sentenced two defendants convicted of murder conspiracy to 15 and 18 years, respectively. Korman cited the assistance that the defendants provided to the prosecution and the need to balance punishment with incentives for cooperation.

1996: Korman held that the Republican Party’s primary system had an unconstitutional “chilling effect” on certain viable candidates. He wrote, “only the most atypical of candidates, ones with unlimited financial resources” had a chance of their names appearing on the ballot. The court of appeals affirmed Korman’s ruling. The decision became the subject of various academic publications, including an article in the Georgetown Law Journal.

1998-2005: Korman has been praised for the way in which he oversaw a class-action settlement involving certain Swiss banks that retained the assets of Holocaust victims following World War II. The banks ultimately agreed to pay victims and their heirs approximately $1.25 billion. In allocating the assets, Korman implemented a “needs-based” system, allocating a greater percentage for those parties most in need of financial assistance. The Second Circuit referred to Korman’s approach as “thoughtful” and “scrupulous[ly] fair[].” Senator Alfonse D’Amato praised Korman’s efforts as “Solomonlike” and “extraordinary.”

2000: Korman found that the Republican Presidential nomination scheme was unconstitutional as “pos[ing] an undue burden in its totality on the right to vote.” The New York Times stated that Korman’s ruling “gave Republicans in the state something Republicans take for granted elsewhere . . . the opportunity to choose from a full slate of candidates.” The decision was the subject of numerous academic publications, including an article in the Georgetown Law Journal.

2007: Following the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash, Korman refused to allow New York City to cap its liability, holding that an obscure maritime law did not apply because the City’s managers had been negligent in disobeying a city rule requiring that two captains remain in the pilot house while the ferry was in motion.