Rosemary S. Pooler

In 1986, Pooler decided to run for the United States House of Representatives in New York's 27th congressional district. She challenged conservative Republican incumbent George C. Wortley, who was seeking a fourth term. She campaigned aggressively and came within less than 1,000 votes of winning. In 1988, Wortley decided not to seek reelection. Pooler was considered a leading prospect of a Democratic gain. But her Republican opponent that year, Syracuse City Councilman James T. Walsh, was a much more difficult target for her attacks. Walsh won handily, with Pooler winning only 42% of the vote.

In 1990, Pooler was elected as a Justice for the Fifth Judicial District of the Supreme Court of New York, serving until 1994.[2]

Pooler was nominated by President Bill Clinton on April 26, 1994, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York vacated by Judge Howard G. Munson. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 9, 1994, and received commission on August 10, 1994. Her service terminated on June 9, 1998, when she was elevated to the court of appeals.[2]

Pooler was nominated by President Clinton on November 6, 1997, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated by Judge Frank Altimari. She was confirmed by the Senate on June 2, 1998, and received commission on June 3, 1998.[2] On October 7, 2021, Pooler announced she would assume senior status upon the confirmation of her successor.[4] She assumed senior status on March 23, 2022.[2] During her service on the court, she participated in a three-judge panel which ruled on the case of Ricci v. DeStefano, which was later appealed to the Supreme Court.

Pooler dissented in the 2009 ruling Arar v. Ashcroft, a case in which Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, had been sent to Syria and was tortured there. While the majority found that there was no remedy for Arar, Pooler and three other judges would have granted Arar the declaratory judgment he was seeking. All four dissenters wrote their own dissenting opinion.

In August 2017, Pooler dissented when the court upheld the insider trading conviction of Mathew Martoma, in which she argued that the majority was improperly overruling circuit precedent.[5] In June 2018, the majority issued an amended opinion reaching the same result, again over the dissent of Pooler.[6]

In an August 2021 case regarding an unwarranted police search of a Black man, Pooler was one of three dissenters who argued that the search violates the 4th Amendment (the other 2 dissenters were Guido Calabresi and Denny Chin). Pooler noted that "The victims of police officers’ whims are disproportionately people of color. Black drivers are more likely to be pulled over by police officers than white drivers, and police officers search stopped black and Latino drivers twice as often as stopped white drivers, despite data suggesting searches of these black and Latino drivers are less likely to discover guns, drugs, or other illegal contraband."[7]