Robert W

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Robert W. Sweet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert W. Sweet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Workman Sweet (born October 15, 1922) is an American jurist and currently a senior United States federal judge serving on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Robert Workman Sweet

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 District judge 2.1 Consumers' lawsuit against McDonald's 2.2 New York Times and Judith Miller controversy 2.3 Opposition to War on Drugs 2.4 Gene patents 3 References

Early life and career Sweet attended Yale University and obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from Yale Law School in 1948. From 1953 to 1955, he was an Assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. He served as the deputy mayor of New York City from 1966 to 1969,[2] and then spent several years as a lawyer in private practice with the large New York law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

District judge

Judge of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York In office 1978 – 1991 (semi-retired into senior status) Nominated by

Jimmy Carter

Preceded by

Inzer B. Wyatt

Succeeded by

Harold Baer, Jr. Personal details

Born

October 15, 1922 [1] Yonkers, New York

Sweet was appointed to the federal court for the Southern District of New York by President Jimmy Carter and confirmed in 1978. He semi-retired into senior status in 1991.[2] One of Sweet's law clerks was Eliot Spitzer, who later became Governor of New York.[3]

Consumers' lawsuit against McDonald's One of the controversial cases he decided was Pelman v McDonald's Corp., a case involving a group of teenagers who sued McDonald's restaurant chain, claiming the food sold by McDonald's caused their obesity. Sweet dismissed the case in 2003 and said "it is not the place of the law to protect them against their own en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Sweet

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Robert W. Sweet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

excesses".[4] However, the plaintiffs appealed to United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and in 2005 the circuit court vacated the district court's dismissal and ruled that Sweet had issued the dismissal incorrectly.[5]

New York Times and Judith Miller controversy In 2005, in New York Times v. Gonzales, Sweet decided that The New York Times can maintain the confidentiality of its sources, refusing to dismiss Times' suit against Department of Justice in the Judith Miller controversy. However, later the Second Circuit again reversed his decision and allowed Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to access phone records of New York Times journalists.[6]

Opposition to War on Drugs Sweet has expressed strong opposition to the United States War on Drugs, saying the drug war is "expensive, ineffective and harmful" and that only "gangs and cartels benefit from current drug laws".[7] In an interview with PBS, he said that the mandatory minimum sentence for drug offenses violates due process and separation of powers.[8] With co-author Edward A. Harris he contributed a chapter[9] to Jefferson Fish's book How to Legalize Drugs. Sweet is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and serves on its advisory board.

Gene patents On March 29, 2010, 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 linked to breast cancer, were invalid for the reason that, in Sweet's opinion, genes do not constitute patentable subject matter. His decision was 156 pages long.[10][11]

References 1. ^ Second Circuit redbook, 1984, pg. 147 (http://books.google.com/books? id=M90mAQAAMAAJ&q=Robert+Workman+Sweet+1922&dq=Robert+Workman+Sweet+1922&hl=en&sa=X&ei =JWVBT5mfDKbh0QGZvYXOBw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAw) 2. ^ a b Sweet, Robert Workman (http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2324) 3. ^ New York Governor official biography (http://www.ny.gov/governor/firstfamily/spitzerbio.html) 4. ^ Court dismisses McDonald's obesity case (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2685707.stm) BBC News 5. ^ Circuit Court allows some claims and remands - Pelman v. McDonald's Corporation (http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/food/pelman04.htm) 6. ^ Court Hands New York Times a Setback in Miller Case (http://www.nysun.com/article/37148) Joseph Goldstein 7. ^ Abolition And Reform (http://leap.cc/who/abolandreform.htm) Robert W. Sweet 8. ^ Interview: Robert Sweet (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/procon/sweet.html) PBS 9. ^ Sweet, R. W. & Harris E. A. (1998). Moral and Constitutional considerations in support of the decriminalization of drugs. In J. M. Fish (Ed.), How to legalize drugs (pp. 430-484). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. 10. ^ Begley, Sharon (March 29, 2010). "In Surprise Ruling, Court Declares Two Gene Patents Invalid" (http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition/archive/2010/03/29/in-surprise-ruling-court-declares-twogene-patents-invalid.aspx). Newsweek. Retrieved March 29, 2010. 11. ^ Schwartz, John and Pollack, Andrew (March 29, 2010). "Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Sweet

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Robert W. Sweet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/30gene.html). The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2010.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_W._Sweet&oldid=477772568" Categories: 1922 births Living people Yale University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter This page was last modified on 19 February 2012 at 21:12. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

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