Jon O. Newman

Jon O. Newman (born in New York City in 1932) is an American federal appeals court judge. He has served on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals since 1979.

Education and Legal Training

Newman earned his A.B. from Princeton University in 1953 and his law degree from Yale Law School in 1956. After Yale, he clerked for Judge George T. Washington of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then clerked for U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren from 1957 to 1958.

He was in private practice from 1958 to 1960 in Hartford, Connecticut and served as a special counsel to the governor of Connecticut in 1960. He was an executive assistant to the United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1961 to 1962 and then joined the staff of U.S. Senator Abraham Ribicoff as Administrative Assistant from 1963 to 1964. He was the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut from 1964 to 1969 when Richard Nixon took office. He entered private practice in Hartford again until 1971 when he was nominated to a federal district judgeship.

Federal Judicial Service

Newman was nominated by Richard M. Nixon on December 2 1971, to a federal U. S. District Court Judgship in Connecticut vacated by William H. Timbers; He was confirmed by the Senate on December 11 1971, and received his commission on December 15 1971. Newman's best-known opinion as a District Judge was Abele v. Markle, decided in 1972, which struck down Connecticut's abortion statute and was seen as a precursor to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade the following year.

Newman's service on the District Court was terminated on June 25 1979, when Newman was nominated by Jimmy Carter on April 30 1979, to a newly created seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; Newman was confirmed by the Senate on June 19 1979, and received his commission on June 21 1979. He served as Chief Judge from 1993 to 1997 and assumed senior status on July 1 1997.

Noteworthy decisions

• Bennett v. Mukasey - A lawyer can't take a client's money and then fail to proceed with his case because the client is not paying the bill. The Court sent immigration lawyer to the Grievance Panel for possible violation of ethical rules after the lawyer did not process the appeal of his client because of lack of payment.