Judge Katzmann speaking of immigrants at Fordham
Robert A. Katzmann was one of the great judges of our era. He was a scholar and law professor but most importantly a deeply empathic man. The son of a Jewish man who fled Nazi Germany, he carried his concern for the immigrant and the refugee with him. He sponsored the Varick Street Project through which law students volunteered to assist detained immigrants - an important service because federal law forbids the expenditure of any federal funds to represent persons facing deportation.
He was a good friend to Ruth Ginsburg and to District Judge Jed Rakoff. Many Rakoff/Katzmann clerks went on to serve Ginsburg. Judge Katzmann was a friend to Fordham and other law schools. - GWC
Judge Robert A. Katzmann, 68, has died
Robert A. Katzmann, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit, the founder of its acclaimed civics education program, and a highly esteemed member of the
federal judiciary who, before joining the bench, had advised on judicial-legislative relations and served as
special counsel on the confirmation of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a cherished friend, died today after a
long illness.
His death was announced by the current Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, Debra A.
Livingston, who succeeded him in September 2020. Judge Katzmann was 68 years old.
Speaking on behalf of the Court, Chief Judge Livingston said, “Judge Katzmann led our Court
through historic challenges, from budget sequester and governmental shutdowns, at the beginning of his
tenure as Chief, to the pandemic which upended our Court’s operations only last spring. Throughout it
all, Judge Katzmann provided sure and steady leadership.
And more than this, Judge Katzmann, with his
commitment to civic education, also had a vision for the Circuit – that the judiciary might lend a steadying
hand to our democracy by helping to educate the citizenry about the rule of law and the role of judges.
His quiet confidence, determination, exceptional leadership, and strong sense of justice inspired us all.
We will miss him profoundly.”
Katzmann was the Walsh Professor of Government, Professor of Law, and Professor of Public
Policy at Georgetown University, and a fellow of the Governmental Studies Program at the Brookings
Institution when he was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve as a judge of the Court of Appeals.
At the time of his nomination, Judge Katzmann, author of Courts and Congress, among other
books, was one of the nation’s leading scholars on the subject of judicial-legislative relations. He had
already worked collaboratively with Judge Frank M. Coffin, then chair of the United States Judicial
Conference Committee on the Judicial Branch, who sought his assistance in examining interbranch
relations.
Katzmann had helped to found the Governance Institute to explore pragmatic issues arising
from the separation of powers between the judiciary and Congress.
Judge Katzmann was nominated on March 9, 1999 to serve on the Second Circuit. This Court
hears appeals from the federal district courts of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont and is especially
well-known for its significant criminal docket and for its important civil cases, which emanate from the
Circuit’s corporate and financial centers. The Senate confirmed Katzmann by voice vote on July 14, 1999.
When Judge Katzmann received his commission on July 16, only two days later, he became the first judge
of the federal courts to take the bench with not only a law degree, but also a doctorate in government.
Katzmann, whose twin brother, Judge Gary Katzmann, is a judge on the Court of International
Trade, was born on April 22, 1953, in Manhattan, and grew up in Queens, a proud graduate of New York
City’s public schools. He was the son of John Katzmann, a refugee from Nazi Germany and an engineer,
and Sylvia Katzmann, a homemaker and the Brooklyn-born daughter of Russian immigrants. Katzmann
received his A.B. degree summa cum laude from Columbia College before proceeding to Harvard
University for his A.M. and Ph.D Degrees, where he studied with and worked for then-professor Daniel
Patrick Moynihan, who became a mentor. Katzmann attended Yale Law School, where he served on the
Yale Law Journal. After law school he clerked for Judge Hugh H. Bownes of the Court of Appeals for the
First Circuit before joining Brookings.
