At 92, Trump-defying judge brings Torah ethos to Maduro case

By Jan Wolfe

Jan 6 (Reuters) – The 92-year-old judge overseeing the Nicolas Maduro case said he displays a Hebrew scripture from the Torah on the wall of his Manhattan chambers: “Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof” – “Justice, justice you will follow.”

An Orthodox Jew who has been on the bench for nearly three decades, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein has spoken openly about how he strives to promote fairness and the influence of his faith on his judicial philosophy.

Hellerstein began court hearings Monday saying he wants a fair trial for the ousted Venezuelan leader, who pleaded not guilty Monday to drug-terrorism charges.

“That’s my job, and that’s my purpose,” Hellerstein said.

On the seventh day he meditates

Hellerstein said in a 2020 podcast that he scheduled the sentencing hearing for Friday, so he could spend Shabbat — the Jewish Sabbath from sunset Friday to Saturday night — reflecting on whether the prison sentence he handed down was appropriate.

Hellerstein has ruled against President Donald Trump in recent years. He has also spoken out when he believes lawyers are not serving their clients well.

In a 2013 Law Review article, he wrote that some lawyers were “outraged” and accused him of “arrogance of power” when he rejected a $675 million settlement between New York City and first responders who rushed to the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Hellerstein concluded that, since no statute or regulation expressly addressed whether the agreement required his blessing, he had an inherent right to reject it as insufficient.

Lawyers presented Hellerstein with a new settlement that added $125 million for the victims.

Hellerstein “is a man of strong convictions and he seeks to find a way to reconcile the law with his understanding of justice,” said Mitchell Eppner, a former federal prosecutor who has observed Hellerstein on the bench.

Hellerstein has been open about how his Jewish values ​​affect his decision-making.

“As a judge, and as a Jew, I think that everything I do reflects God and affects his image,” he wrote in a 2013 article.

In a 2020 podcast, Hellerstein said he believed he was “the first Orthodox guy ever to work for a Gentile or Jewish firm in New York City.”

“I’m happy to say that there were others after me, and some credited me with breaking the precedent,” Hellerstein said.

Hellerstein had a long career before President Bill Clinton nominated him to the federal bench in 1998.

From 1957 to 1960, Hellerstein served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, the legal branch of the United States Army.

In 1960, Hellerstein joined the now-defunct firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, where he practiced for much of his career.

A history of rebuke Trump’s legal gambit

In a high-profile case in 2020, Hellerstein ordered the release of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, after Trump’s Justice Department attempted to revoke his house arrest and return him to prison.

Hellerstein concluded that the Trump administration was retaliating against Cohen for writing the book.

In 2023, Hellerstein refused Trump’s request to take his New York criminal case regarding hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to federal court. Trump was tried in state court and convicted of 34 felonies.

In May 2025, Hellerstein rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to use wartime legislation to send alleged gang members to Venezuela, saying the men were unfairly denied their day in court.

“This is the United States of America,” he said. “People are being thrown out of the country because of tattoos.”

(Reporting by John Wolfe; Editing by Nolin Walder and Howard Goller)