Jenny Rivera (judge)

Jenny Rivera (born December 1960) is a judge on the New York Court of Appeals. A Democrat, Rivera was appointed to the court by Andrew Cuomo in 2013 for a 14-year term.[1] Her current term expires in 2027. She is the second Hispanic woman to serve on New York's highest court, after Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick.

This article is about the judge. For the singer, see Jenni Rivera.
Jenny Rivera
Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
Assumed office
February 11, 2013
Appointed byAndrew Cuomo
Preceded byCarmen Beauchamp Ciparick
Personal details
BornDecember 1960 (age 62)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationPrinceton University (AB)
New York University (JD)
Columbia University (LLM)

Education

Rivera was born in December 1960 in New York City.[2] She graduated from Princeton University in 1982. She earned her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law three years later, and a Master of Laws from Columbia University School of Law in 1993.

After obtaining her Juris Doctor in 1985, Rivera spent a year clerking at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit's Pro Se Law Clerk's office. She spent the next year as a staff attorney for the New York City Legal Aid Society in the Homeless Family Rights Project before joining the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she remained as associate counsel until 1992. In 1992, Rivera served as an Administrative Law Judge for the New York State Division of Human Rights.

In 1993, after completing her LL.M., Rivera served as a law clerk to then-U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Southern District of New York; Sotomayor was later elevated to the Second Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Following the completion of that clerkship, Rivera taught for three years at Suffolk University Law School.

Rivera joined the faculty of the City University of New York School of Law in 1997. She would teach there nearly continuously until her appointment to the New York Court of Appeals in 2013. From 2007 to 2008 Rivera was Special Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights in the New York Attorney General's office and in 2011 she was a visiting professor at American University Washington College of Law.

Her selection to New York's highest court was controversial.[3] Rivera was the first nominee in history to be advanced out of the New York State Senate's Judiciary Committee without recommendation.[3] Nevertheless, she was confirmed by the full Senate on February 11, 2013.[4]

In September 2021, Rivera was barred from entering the courthouse because she refused a COVID-19 vaccine; she is the only one of her colleagues to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine.[5]

See also

References
  1. Gavin, Robert (January 25, 2013). "Cuomo Names Judge Choice". Times Union.
  2. Hon. Jenny Rivera at NY Court System
  3. Caher, John (February 5, 2013). "Without Recommendation, COA Nominee Advances". New York Law Journal. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  4. Nahmias, Laura (February 2, 2013). "Lawmakers Confirm Rivera to State's Highest Court". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  5. Celona, Larry; Rosenberg, Rebecca (October 4, 2021). "One of NY's most senior judges barred from courthouse over COVID-19 vaccine". New York Post. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
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