Name John Kingston | ||
John E. Kingston (December 11, 1925 – May 5, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.
Life
He was born on December 11, 1925, in Niagara Falls, New York. The family moved to Nassau County in 1929. He attended Mount Hermon School, and graduated A.B. from Williams College in 1948. He graduated from New York University School of Law in 1950, was admitted to the bar, and practiced law in Mineola.
Kingston was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1960 to 1974, sitting in the 172nd, 173rd, 174th, 175th, 176th, 177th, 178th, 179th and 180th New York State Legislatures. He was Majority Leader from 1969 to 1974. He therefore remains the last Republican majority leader of the New York State Assembly.
As chairman of the 1972 Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, Kingston was indicted for violation of Section 457 of State Election Law. The committee had distributed letters that purported to be from the Liberal Party of New York when they were actually generated by the Republican Party. The Committee argued that this was legal under the First Amendment of the United States. The court ruled, however, "Calculated falsehood is never protected by the First Amendment," but the dismissal of the case is considered a significant First Amendment victory, with the court ruling citing a tradition that goes back to the pamphleting of the colonialists. "For the foregoing reasons, it is apparent that, assuming these defendants have the standing to raise the overbreadth issue, section 457 of the Election Law of the State of New York must be declared unconstitutional as overly broad in that it unfairly and unnecessarily sweeps within its criminal sanctions activity that is the protected right of every citizen under the First Amendment." (When Claire McCaskill in Missouri wanted to run against Todd Akin in Missouri, the McCaskill campaign funded similar pro-Akin literature in the Republican primary.) The indictment was ultimately dismissed on January 24, 1974 on grounds of "overbreadth" of Section 457 citing Dombrowski v. Pfister, Broadrick v. Oklahoma, Plummer v. City of Columbus, and Lovell v. City of Griffin.
He was elected District Court Judge from North Hempstead in 1989. In 1994, he was elected to the New York Supreme Court for Nassau and Suffolk County. It marked the fifth consecutive decade in which he won an election. He remained on the bench until he retired shortly before his death.
He died on May 5, 1996; and was buried at the Nassau Knolls Cemetery in Port Washington.