Naomi Reice Buchwald

Early life and education

Naomi Reice was born in 1944 in Kingston, New York, to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Reice. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brandeis University in 1965 and then cum laude from Columbia Law School in 1968.

Career

Naomi Reice, as she was then known, practiced law in New York City from 1968 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 she was 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 Senate on September 13, 1999, and received her commission on September 22, 1999. She assumed senior status (a form of semi-retirement) on March 21, 2012.

Notable cases

''SEC v. Dorozhko''

In a 2008 civil case concerning 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.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 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. The SEC managed to seize $296,456 of this amount.

''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 United States 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.

''In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation''

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 a 161-page memorandum of decision, she held that U.S. antitrust law did 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, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the dismissal order, reinstating the lawsuit.

''Knight First Amendment Institute v. Donald J. Trump''

On May 23, 2018, Buchwald held that President Trump's blocking of the plaintiffs from the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account "because of their expressed political views violates the First Amendment." Buchwald differentiated between Twitter's muting and blocking functions, explaining that muting "vindicates the President's right to ignore certain speakers and to selectively amplify the voices of certain others . . . without restricting the right of the ignored to speak." Buchwald declined, however, to issue an injunction against the president and instead issued a declaratory judgment with the statement that "we must assume that the President and Scavino [Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media] will remedy the blocking we have held to be unconstitutional."

This decision stands in conflict with similar cases from other courts. For example, earlier in 2018, a Kentucky judge upheld a governor's decision to block commenters from his Twitter and Facebook feeds in Morgan v. Bevin (E.D. Ky. 2018). Another example is Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine, who is fighting a lawsuit for blocking Democratic activist and radio personality Grant Stern.

Buchwald's ruling was affirmed by the 2nd circuit on July 9, 2019, and the 2nd circuit denied en banc rehearing on March 23, 2020 Then, on April 5, 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the case to be dismissed as moot.

''Chung v. Trump''

On March 25, 2025, Buchwald granted a temporary restraining order blocking immigration officials from detaining or deporting Yunseo Chung, a 21-year old green card holder at Columbia University who participated in a pro-Palestine protest at Barnard College.

Recent Cases Heard

United States v. Batista (1:25-cr-00396), September 2, 2025

Paulynne, Inc. v. Paramount Global (1:25-cv-05206), September 22, 2025

Affiliated FM Insurance Company v. Maersk A/S (1:25-cv-05172), August 11, 2025

Johnson v. Fiverr Inc. (1:25-cv-05079), August 11, 2025

Arrow Electronics, Inc. v. Energy Wall, LLC (1:25-cv-04875), September 11, 2025

Criticism by Preet Bharara

At a July 2014 roast for a departing prosecutor in his office, Preet Bharara, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, referred to Buchwald, who had just presided over his office’s first loss of a major insider trading case, as “the worst federal judge” he’d ever encountered.

Personal life

She was married on January 19, 1974, to Don David Buchwald of Jericho, New York.

References

References

1. [https://archive.org/details/gov.gpo.fdsys.CHRG-106shrg98240/page/n311/mode/2up Confirmation Hearings On Federal Appointments, Part 1A [Errata], 1999]
2. "Buchwald, Naomi Reice {{!}} Federal Judicial Center".
3. "Hon. Naomi Reice Buchwald {{!}} U.S District Court".
4. {{FJC Bio
5. [https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/06/archives/naomi-reice-willbe-bride.html "Naomi Reice Will Be Bride," ''The New York Times,'' January 6, 1974, page 66]
6. (2025). "Almanac of the federal judiciary". Wolters Kluwer.
7. "SEC v. Dorozhko, 606 F. Supp. 2d 321 (S.D.N.Y. 2008). Retrieved 2010-10-27.".
8. "SEC v. Dorozhko, 574 F.3d 42 (2d Cir. 2009). Retrieved 2010-10-27.".
9. "SEC v. Dorozhko (S.D.N.Y. 2010). Retrieved 2010-10-27.".
10. [http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/common-sense-and-insider-trading/ "Common Sense and Insider Trading"] by Floyd Norris, ''The New York Times'' blog, March 29, 2010, 6:50 pm. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
11. [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9891874946309865887&q "Organic Seed Growers & Trade Ass'n v. Monsanto Co."], No. 11 Civ. 2163 (NRB) (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 24, 2012).
12. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-monsanto-lawsuit-idUSTRE81Q1PN20120228 "Monsanto prevails in suit brought by organic growers"] by Carey Gillam, ''Reuters.com'' updated February 28th 2012, 2:17 AM. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
13. [https://www.reuters.com/article/monsanto-lawsuit-idUSL2E8ESYK420120328 "Monsanto Lawsuit: Organic Farmers Appeal U.S. District Court Decision"] by Carey Gillam, ''Reuters.com'' updated March 28th 2012, 3:46 PM. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
14. (Jan 13, 2014). "Top U.S. court refuses to hear appeal of Monsanto seed case". Reuters.
15. Henning, Peter J.. (April 2013). "In Libor Ruling, a Big Win for the Banks".
16. ''[https://www.scribd.com/doc/133360634/Judge-Naomi-Reice-Buchwald-s-ruling In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation]'', no. 11-2262 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 29, 2013)
17. (May 24, 2016). "LIBOR Antitrust Claims Revived by Second Circuit".
18. ''[https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca2/13-3565/13-3565-2016-05-23.html In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation]'', no. 13-3565 (2d Cir. May 23, 2016)
19. ''[https://knightcolumbia.org/sites/default/files/content/Cases/Wikimedia/2018.05.23%20Order%20on%20motions%20for%20summary%20judgment.pdf Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al.] {{Webarchive. link. (2019-08-11 '', No. 17 Civ. 5205 (S.D.N.Y. May 23, 2018).)
20. The Volokh Conspiracy, ''[http://reason.com/volokh/2018/05/24/the-trump-twitter-declaratory-judgment The Trump Twitter Declaratory Judgment]'' (May 24, 2018).
21. (May 23, 2018). "Donald Trump Can't Block Twitter Users Over Politics, Judge Rules". The Hollywood Reporter.
22. The Volokh Conspiracy, ''[http://reason.com/volokh/2018/05/23/blocking-of-twitter-users-from-realdonal Blocking of Twitter Users from @RealDonaldTrump Violates First Amendment]'' (May 23, 2018).
23. Politico, ''[https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/05/18/levines-social-media-blocking-haunts-florida-gubernatorial-campaign-427254 Levine’s social media blocking haunts Florida gubernatorial campaign]'' (May 18, 2018).
24. (2019-07-09). "Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University v. Trump, No. 18-1691 (2d Cir. 2019)".
25. (2020-03-23). "Order (denying en banc petition): KNIGHT INSTITUTE V. TRUMP - A lawsuit challenging President Trump's blocking of critics on Twitter".
26. "Knight Institute v. Trump".
27. (March 25, 2025). "Judge rules Columbia protester can’t be detained as she fights deportation".
28. "United States v. Batista, 1:25-cr-00396 - CourtListener.com".
29. "Paulynne, Inc. v. Paramount Global, 1:25-cv-05206 - CourtListener.com".
30. "Affiliated FM Insurance Company v. Maersk A/S, 1:25-cv-05172 - CourtListener.com".
31. "Johnson v. Fiverr Inc., 1:25-cv-05079 - CourtListener.com".
32. "Arrow Electronics, Inc. v. Energy Wall, LLC, 1:25-cv-04875 - CourtListener.com".
33. [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/business/preet-bharara-and-federal-judges-trade-barbs-and-some-fear-consequences.html "Some Fear Fallout From Preet Bharara’s Tension With Judges," ''The New York Times,'' April 16, 2015]
34. [https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/wall-streets-top-cops-harsh-words-for-federal-judge-that-ended-his-win-streak "Wall Street's Top Cop's Harsh Words for Federal Judge that Ended His Win Streak," ''Fox Business,'' July 18, 2014]
35. [https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/will-preet-bharara-new-yorks-anti-corruption-crusader-run-higher-office/ "Will Preet Bharara, New York’s Anti-Corruption Crusader, Run for Higher Office?," ''The Nation,'' April 29, 2015]
36. They have a son, [[David Evan Buchwald]], a New York state assemblyman.[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/fashion/weddings/lara-samet-and-david-buchwald.html "Lara Samet and David Buchwald," ''The New York Times,'' March 2, 2014, page ST-16]