Jesse M. Furman

Early life and education

Furman is the son of psychologist Gail (née Gorman) and real estate developer Jay Furman. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1994 and then was a Henry Fellow at the University of Oxford from 1994 to 1995. He received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1998. From 2002 to 2003, he clerked for Associate Justice David Souter.

Career

Furman worked as a lawyer at the law firm Wiggin & Dana from 2000 to 2002 and again from 2003 to 2004.

Federal judicial service

On June 7, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Furman to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that had been vacated by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who assumed senior status in January 2011. On September 15, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported his nomination to the Senate floor by a voice vote. On February 15, 2012, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed cloture on Furman's nomination. The Senate vitiated the cloture motion on February 16 and confirmed Furman on February 17, by a 62–34 vote. He received his commission the same day.

Notable cases

Main article: 2020 United States Census, Department of Commerce v. New York, Detention of Mahmoud Khalil

On March 24, 2018, United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced his decision to add a question about citizenship status to the 2020 Census questionnaire, asserting that it was necessary to help the Justice Department enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Two groups of plaintiffs filed lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to block the question. The cases were assigned to Furman, who rejected the plaintiffs' claim that adding the question violated the Enumeration Clause of the U.S. Constitution but held that Ross's decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that the Voting-Rights-Act-enforcement rationale was a pretext designed to conceal the true reasons for adding the question. Furman entered an order blocking implementation of Ross's decision. On June 27, 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed Furman's order, agreeing that the Voting-Rights-Act-enforcement rationale was pretextual. The Court's decision left open the possibility that Ross could try again to add the citizenship question to the 2020 Census, but the Trump administration did not make a second attempt.

On March 10, 2025, Furman blocked the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist Immigrations and Custom Enforcement had detained two days earlier. Two days later, Furman granted Khalil two attorney-client-privileged phone calls, but also ruled that he would remain detained.

Personal

Furman is married to Ariela Dubler a former Columbia Law School professor who now heads the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, a Jewish day school in New York. His brother Jason Furman served as an economic adviser to President Obama and is an economics professor at Harvard University.

Furman is Jewish. He has been noted for his strict observance, including adjourning court early for Shabbat and closing his chambers on Rosh Hashanah.

References

References

1. (January 5, 2015). "In Memoriam: Jay Furman, 1942-2015". [[New York University School of Law]] News.
2. White House: Office of the [[White House Press Secretary. (June 7, 2011). "President Obama Nominates Four to the United States District Court". [[whitehouse.gov]].
3. "United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees".
4. "U.S. Senate Periodical Press Gallery".
5. "On the Nomination (Confirmation Jesse M. Furman, of New York, to be United States District Judge)".
6. "How The 2020 Census Citizenship Question Ended Up In Court".
7. (3 April 2018). "More Than 2 Dozen States, Cities Sue To Block Census Citizenship Question".
8. "Judge Orders Trump Administration To Remove 2020 Census Citizenship Question".
9. "Judge Orders Trump Administration To Remove 2020 Census Citizenship Question".
10. (27 June 2019). "Supreme Court Leaves Census Question on Citizenship in Doubt".
11. "Trump Backs Off Census Citizenship Question Fight".
12. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-temporarily-blocks-effort-to-deport-palestinian-activist-who-helped-lead-columbia-student-protests/ar-AA1AAC6e
13. (March 12, 2025). "Former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil to remain detained in Louisiana for now". CBS News.
14. (January 6, 2015). "UJA-Federation of New York mourns the passing of Jay Furman, longtime supporter of UJA-Federation and a distinguished leader in our community as a member of UJA-Federation's Finance Committee & Board of Directors". [[The New York Times]].
15. (April 19, 2019). "Furman--Gail. UJA-Federation of New York mourns the passing of Gail Furman, beloved mother and mother-in-law of our friends Jesse Furman and Ariela Dubler who have long demonstrated leadership and an unwavering commitment to the Jewish community". [[New York Times]].
16. (March 10, 2025). "The judge who blocked Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil's deportation is an observant Jew". [[The Forward]].
17. Gerstein, Josh. (June 17, 2008). "An Ex-New-York-Knife-Juggler To Hone Obama's Econ Policy". [[The New York Sun]].
18. (16 December 2010). "Tribal Allegiance: The Strange Nexus of a Brooklyn Rabbi and Hedge-Fund King Steven Cohen". Tablet Magazine.