Oct. 28 (UPI) — U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who was overseeing the case against deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, has died at 92.
A court spokesperson announced his death Wednesday morning. The Maduro case, and all others Hellerstein was presiding over, will be randomly assigned to other judges.
Hellerstein was appointed to the federal bench in 1998 by President Bill Clinton.
In recent years, Hellerstein presided over a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s efforts to deport immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act with little to no due process.
He issued a stern ruling against the administration, stating that the president’s use of the law contradicts it, which dictates that those deported be given due process.
“Conveniently, Respondents fail to mention another section of the AEA that imposes a ‘duty’ on the federal courts to give a ‘full examination and hearing’ to the Executive’s ‘complaint’ against the alien, and to order the alien’s removal only upon ‘sufficient cause appearing,'” he said.
He also blocked Trump’s attempts to move his criminal case for hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels to federal court. Hellerstein rejected three of Trump’s attempts to do so.
Hellerstein was a deeply religious Orthodox Jew and was known to hold sentencings on Fridays so he could reflect on his decisions over the Sabbath, The New York Times reported.
The judge also oversaw the lawsuit from 9/11 victims against American Airlines and a lawsuit against former movie producer Harvey Weinstein.