Naomi Reice Buchwald

Education and career

Buchwald was born in Kingston, New York, received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University in 1965 and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Columbia Law School in 1968. After law school, Buchwald practiced law in New York until 1973, when she became an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, rising to the position of Chief of the Civil Division. She held this position until being named a United States Magistrate Judge in the same district in 1980. She served as Chief United States Magistrate Judge from 1994 until 1999.

Federal judicial service

On February 12, 1999, Buchwald was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Miriam G. Cedarbaum. Buchwald was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 13, 1999, and received her commission on September 22, 1999. She assumed senior status on March 21, 2012.

Personal

She is married to criminal defense attorney Don Buchwald, also a former Assistant United States Attorney, and has two grown children.

LIBOR Scandal

In March 2013, Buchwald dismissed much, though not all, of a class action lawsuit directed at the banks that allegedly manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).

In particular, in a complicated 161 page memorandum of decision, she argued that U.S. antitrust law does not apply. She said that since the LIBOR-setting process was never meant to be competitive, the suppression of that process was not anti-competitive.

In May 2016, a US appeals court overturned the dismissal, reinstating the lawsuit.

Organic Seed Growers & Trade Ass'n v. Monsanto Co.

On February 24, 2012, Buchwald dismissed a lawsuit brought by a consortium of U.S. organic farmers and seed dealers aggrieved by Monsanto's genetically modified organism seeds. Monsanto denied that it had harmed anyone. After extensive briefing and oral argument, she held that the plaintiffs had no standing to sue, calling the case a "transparent effort to create a controversy where none exists." The decision was appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 28, 2012. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the organic farmers in January 2014.

Controversial Remarks About Sarah Palin

On February 5, 2009, the New York Daily News reported that, while presiding over a case involving an autistic boy, Buchwald made a remark about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Down syndrome child, Trig, saying, "That kid was used as a prop, and that to me as a parent blew my mind."

SEC v. Dorozhko

In a 2008 civil case for insider trading, Buchwald ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to unfreeze the ill-gotten profits of Ukrainian resident Oleksandr Dorozhko. Dorozhko was accused of hacking into a company database to access a then-unreleased earnings announcement. Based upon the undisclosed information, Dorozhko invested $41,671 in put options, which he sold the following day for $328,571. The SEC froze the profits, but the judge ruled against the SEC, finding that while Dorozhko's conduct almost certainly was criminal, it did not fall within the relevant civil statute. Buchwald stayed her order pending appeal.

In a highly deferential opinion, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judge's ruling. When Dorozhko later stopped participating in his defense, Buchwald granted the SEC summary judgement and ordered Dorozhko to pay nearly $580,000 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty. It was later reported that the SEC managed to seize about half of this amount.