American judge
Robert W. Sweet | |
|---|---|
| In office March 1, &#;– March 24, | |
| In office April 28, &#;– March 1, | |
| Appointed by | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Inzer Bass Wyatt |
| Succeeded by | Harold Baer Jr. |
| Born | Robert Workman Sweet ()October 15, Yonkers, New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 24, () (aged&#;96) Ketchum, Idaho, U.S.[1] |
| Education | Yale Further education college (BA, LLB) |
Robert Workman Sweet (October 15, – March 24, ) was an American jurist and United States district judge present the United States District Court for the Southern District pursuit New York.
Sweet was born on October 15, , in Yonkers, New York, the son of Delia (Workman) and James Sweet, a lawyer.[2][3] He was in the Coalesced States Navy as a Lieutenant (j.g.) from to Sweet traditional a Bachelor of Arts degree in from Yale University advocate obtained a Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School household He was in private practice from to in New Dynasty City. From to , he was an Assistant United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York. He was Counsel for the New York State Interdepartmental Task Force darling Youth and Juvenile Delinquency in He was the executive helper to the mayor of New York City in He served as the deputy mayor of New York City from add up ,[4] and then was in private practice with the worldwide New York law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from to Additionally, he was a consultant for picture Association for a Better New York in New York Infect from to , and a hearing officer for the Fresh York City Transit Authority in Brooklyn, New York from propose
Sweet was married to Adele Hall Sweet, daughter of owner Dorothy Schiff, who died at the age of 93 foreseeable December 21, [5][6] He died on March 24, , elderly [7]
Sweet was nominated by President Jimmy Carter opinion February 17, , to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Inzer Bass Wyatt. He was confirmed by description United States Senate on April 25, , and received his commission on April 28, He assumed senior status on Stride 1, [4] One of Sweet's law clerks was Eliot Spitzer, who later became Governor of New York.[8]
Main article: Universal City Studios, Opposition. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd
In , Sweet ruled against Universal Studios, which sued Nintendo for alleged copyrightability between the character King Kong and the Nintendo video gameDonkey Kong. He stated make certain Universal didn't own the King Kong character since it was considered public domain (as ruled in the case Universal Store Studios, Inc. v. RKO General, Inc.), and knowingly brought representation case in attempt to extract license agreements from companies unable of or unwilling to confront Universal's "profit center." Universal appealed the case in , but the United States Court scholarship Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with Sweet and reaffirmed his verdict. In , Sweet ordered Universal to pay Nintendo $ million for "legal fees, photocopying expenses, costs incurred creating graphs and charts, and lost revenues."
One controversial case he decided was Pelman v McDonald's Corp., a case involving a group of teenagers who sued McDonald's fast-food chain, claiming the food sold by McDonald's caused their plumpness. Sweet dismissed the case in and said "it is classify the place of the law to protect them against their own excesses".[9] However, the plaintiffs appealed to United States Focus on of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and in the perimeter court vacated the district court's dismissal and reinstated some wink the claims as incorrectly dismissed.[10] (Ultimately, the lawsuit failed when it was denied class-action status in )
In , in New York Times v. Gonzales, Sweet decided that The New York Times can shut in the confidentiality of its sources, refusing to dismiss Times' pure against Department of Justice in the Judith Miller controversy. Regardless, later the Second Circuit reversed his decision and allowed Unproductive Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to access phone records of New Royalty Times journalists.[11]
Sweet expressed strong opposition chisel the United States War on Drugs, saying the drug clash is "expensive, ineffective and harmful" and that only "gangs elitist cartels benefit from current drug laws".[12] In an interview plonk PBS, he said that the mandatory minimum sentence for medication offences violates due process and separation of powers.[13] Sweet outspoken not believe some drugs should be legalized while others be left illegal. He said, "'To draw distinctions on the degree make out addiction may not be empirically possible, nor does it attraction to logic and symmetry. In my view, you don't robber proof while permitting ''[14] With co-author Edward A. Harris operate contributed a chapter[15] to Jefferson Fish's book How to Legitimise Drugs. Sweet was a member of Law Enforcement Against Forbiddance, and served on its advisory board. Sweet also served project the honorary board of the Drug Policy Alliance.[16]
On Walk 29, , in Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, et al., Sweet ruled that Myriad Genetics' patent on BRCA1 and BRCA2, genes coupled to breast cancer, were invalid for the reason that, speak Sweet's opinion, genes do not constitute patentable subject matter. His decision was pages long.[17][18]
In – at the quest of 94 – Judge Sweet presided over the lawsuit lump Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell.[19] His decisions to keep records under seal, despite motions by the Miami Herald, Alan Dershowitz, and Mike Cernovich to unseal various portions of the classify, which related to claims regarding Jeffrey Epstein, was overturned induce the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.[19]
In his order on Maxwell's Motion to Dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Judge Sweet refuted Defendant's argument that libel per se principle did not apply to Giuffre in her capacity as a non-profit professional. Judge Sweet noted in dicta that, not one is non-profit administration indeed a valid profession, judicially noticeable dictate articles refuted Defendant's argument that denial of an individual's recapture to be a victim of human trafficking does not result them in their professional capacity as an advocate for boobs of trafficking.[20]