Jesse M. Furman


Jesse Matthew Furman is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Early life and education

Furman is the son of psychologist Gail and real estate developer Jay Furman. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1994 and then was a Henry Fellow at Oxford University from 1994 until 1995. He received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1998. From 1998 until 1999, Furman served as a law clerk for then United States District Judge and future United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey. He then served as a law clerk for United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge José A. Cabranes from 1999 until 2000. Furman also served as a clerk to Associate Justice David Souter of the Supreme Court of the United States from 2002 until 2003.

Professional career

Furman worked as a lawyer at the law firm Wiggin & Dana from 2000 until 2002 and again from 2003 until 2004. In 2004, he became a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he served as an Assistant United States Attorney. From 2007 until 2009, he worked in the office of the United States Attorney General as Counselor to the Attorney General.
A 2005 article in the New York Observer identified Furman as a potential future Supreme Court nominee.

Federal judicial service

On June 7, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Furman to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that had been vacated by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who had taken senior status in January 2011. On September 15, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported his nomination to the Senate floor by voice vote. On February 15, 2012, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed cloture on Furman's nomination. On February 16, 2012, the Senate, by unanimous consent, vitiated the cloture vote on the nomination and agreed to a final vote on the nomination. On February 17, 2012, the United States Senate confirmed Furman in a 62–34 vote. He received his commission the same day.

Notable cases

On March 24, 2018, United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced his decision to add a question about citizenship status to the 2020 Census questionnaire, asserting that it was necessary to help the Justice Department enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Two groups of plaintiffs filed lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to block the question. The cases were assigned to Judge Furman, who rejected the plaintiffs' claim that adding the question violated the of the United States Constitution, but held that Secretary Ross's decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that the Voting-Rights-Act-enforcement rationale was a pretext designed to conceal the true reasons for adding the question. Judge Furman entered an order blocking implementation of Secretary Ross's decision. On June 27, 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed Judge Furman's order, agreeing that the Voting-Rights-Act-enforcement rationale was pretextual. The Supreme Court's decision left open the possibility that Secretary Ross could try again to add the citizenship question to the 2020 Census, but the Trump Administration ultimately decided not to make a second attempt.

Personal

He is married to Ariela Dubler a former Columbia Law School professor who now heads the Abraham Joshua Heschel School. Furman's brother Jason Furman served as an economic adviser to President Barack Obama. Furman is Jewish.