Preceded by Charles P. Sifton | Name Nicholas Garaufis | |
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Role United States District Judge Office United States District Judge since 2000 Succeeded by LaShann Moutique DeArcy Hall Education Columbia College of Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University, Columbia Law School | ||
Nicholas G. Garaufis (born 1948) is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
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Education
Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Garaufis graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1974. He taught in the New York City public schools prior to receiving his Juris Doctor.
Career
Garaufis began his legal career in 1974 as an associate of Chadbourne & Parke. He also served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Litigation Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s office under Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz and has practiced law privately in Queens County, New York. Garaufis served for more than five years as the Chief Counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C., overseeing a staff of 200 attorneys. Prior to his appointment to the Clinton Administration in June, 1995, Garaufis served for nine years as counsel to Queens Borough President Claire Shulman in New York City.
Federal judicial service
Upon the recommendation of United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Garaufis was nominated by President Clinton on February 28, 2000, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York vacated by Charles P. Sifton and confirmed by unanimous consent by the United States Senate on May 24, 2000. Garaufis received his commission on May 25, 2000 and entered service on August 28, 2000. Garaufis took senior status on October 1, 2014.
Notable case
On July 16, 2012, Judge Garaufis ordered the New York City Fire Department to implement racial quotas to address grievances from minorities who failed entrance exams. His ruling requires hiring off a list of priority hire candidates, two of every five newly hired firefighters to be black and one of every five Hispanic, until the department has fulfilled the court-ordered quota of 186 black and 107 Hispanic hires or until the list is exhausted. This is due to a lawsuit that alleges two placement exams (Written Exams 7029 or 2043) for the FDNY were discriminatory against blacks and Hispanics, because fewer minorities passed the exam than whites.
On May 11, 2017, Judge Garaufis sentenced Bryant Neal Vinas to time served for providing material support for terrorism, giving the highly cooperative informant three months more in prison before beginning a life on probation.