CADMAN PLAZA EAST — Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Charles P. Sifton was in the spotlight when local politicians sued over the mayor’s bid to extend term limits. Sifton, who ruled in favor of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, lived to see the effect of his decision last week when Bloomberg won his re-election to a third term.

Perhaps his most famous ruling, however, was one that was later overturned. In 1992, Sifton found that the United States illegally seized RU-486 abortion pills that a pregnant woman had bought in France. The Supreme Court reversed his decision, but the publicity helped build support for the drug’s U.S. approval in 2000.

Judge Sifton’s ruling on term limits was refocused on last week during the election.

On the January evening when Judge Sifton heard oral arguments in the case, citizens and spectators crowded the courtroom. Sifton heard the arguments with aplomb and humility, seemingly unimpressed by the inflated rhetoric of the attorneys from opposing sides. Speaking quietly, he tried to boil down the two arguments to their simplest forms.

“You ask a judge in this kind of a situation to weigh one against another,� he said, his forehead wrinkled in thought. “It seems extremely subjective for a judge to decide.�

When an attorney started telling the judge what he “should expect,� Judge Sifton replied, “I expect some sympathy,� to laughter from spectators.

Judge Sifton’s decision in that case, affirming the City Council vote, directly paved the way for Bloomberg’s re-election last week. The judge rejected the constitutional argument brought forward by City Comptroller Bill Thompson and other politicians that the term-limits extension violated the First and Fourteenth amendments. And on appeal, his decision was upheld by U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

It was one of many historic cases for the judge, who has heard some of Brooklyn federal court’s most high-profile cases over his 30 years as a judge. These included ruling women should be allowed employment in the fire department, the trials of Mafia bosses and Irish terrorists, recent lawsuits by investors against alleged Bay Ridge Ponzi schemer Philip Barry, as well as civil rights and school desegregation cases.

Appointed as a Brooklyn federal judge in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter, Sifton was one of the judges who watched the impressive new courthouse for the Eastern District erected and then opened in January 2006.

“It’s the courtroom of the 21st century,� Judge Sifton told the Eagle shortly after moving into his new courtroom in January 2006, while he prepared to preside over one of the first trials in the new building. “Finally, after all the years of waiting and delay, we finally got the space and the equipment that we need.�

One of Judge Sifton’s notable decisions was a 1982 ruling that a test of speed and physical strength discriminated against women. He ordered that a new test be created and the 45 women who had sued the city be hired. Sifton’s decision was upheld on appeal and a test developed under his order, emphasizing agility and stamina, took effect.

And in 1992, he ruled that the government had acted illegally by seizing an abortion pill illegal in the United States, RU-486, from a pregnant woman who bought the drug in France. His decision was reversed by the Supreme Court, but it generated positive publicity for the drug which was eventually approved in the United States in 2000.

Charles Proctor Sifton was born in Manhattan on March 18, 1935. He graduated from Harvard, studied in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, and earned his law degree at Columbia Law School.

He was staff counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and worked as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He then worked in private practice until he was appointed to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York by President Jimmy Carter. He was chief judge from 1995 to 2000.

Judge Sifton’s marriage to Elisabeth Sifton, a prominent book editor and author who is the daughter of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, ended in divorce. His son Sam Sifton is the restaurant critic of the The New York Times.

Sifton is survived by his wife, artist Susan Rowland, two other sons, Toby and John, and three grandchildren.

—Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net